Sponsoring Agency: 1871
Type of Fund:
Deadline Available: Available
Deadline Date (mm/dd/yyyy): 04/19/2021
Size of the Fund: Not Available
BMO Harris Bank and 1871 today issued a nationwide call to apply for WMN•FINtech, a fintech industry program for women-led startups and the latest evolution of the BMO Harris/1871 Innovation Program.
Only 20% of global startups raising their first funding round in 2019 had a female founder. WMN•FINtech is an industry specific program built for women entrepreneurs to bring innovative technology and products forward.
WMN•FINtech, winner of the 2020 People’s Choice Award from Chicago Inno, is designed for startups that create services or solutions for the financial sector, offer insights and advice to customers or help identify customer needs. WMN•FINtech will provide selected startups with:
• A three-month mentoring program with guidance from industry experts at BMO Harris Bank
• A four-month membership and working space at 1871, the number one private business incubator in the world
• Curriculum focused on teaching enterprise sales cycles, vendor management, information security and risk and regulatory requirements
• The opportunity to pitch venture capital investors for feedback, mentoring, continued connections and/or funding
WMN•FINtech runs in conjunction with PYROS, consisting of four immersive weeks (one per month) in which participants will attend intensive programming for all five business days. These weeks will be made up of guest speaker roundtables, BMO Harris led programming, PYROS Launch workshops, deep dives, and OKR and goal setting sessions.
The program will culminate in a cohort showcase for BMO Harris executives only.
• Program Kickoff: May 24, 2021
• Immersive Week 1: May 24 – May 28, 2021
• Immersive Week 2: June 21 – June 25, 2021
• Immersive Week 3: July 19 – July 23, 2021
• Immersive Week 4: August 16 – August 20, 2021
• BMO Showcase: August 20, 2021
Eligibility Criteria
WMN•FINtech is designed for women-founded and led startups based in the U.S. that have developed products or services for the financial sector. We’re looking for companies in the Launch phase of PYROS, which means:
• You have a working, assumptions-driven financial model and analytics tied to each relevant step of your customer’s journey.
• You have a set quantitative and qualitative metrics validating that you have built a minimum viable product that your target market loves.
• You have an opinion on a business model and unit economics that demonstrate your company’s path to profitability.
• You have a team consisting of more than one person.
• Headquartered in the U.S.
More information at: https://1871.com/membership/women-in-fintech/
