Commonwealth Bank’s venture-scaling division x15ventures is reportedly looking for founders who are focused on the future of payments for its “Xccelerate’ program.”
The Xccelerate 2022 program assists early-stage initiatives with better understanding the pathway to working with the CBA and it ends in an Investment Pitch Night, which takes place in front of x15, CBA, and various corporate venture units (as well as “pure-play” VCs).
Applications to participate in this initiative had opened on August 1 2022 and are expected to close on September 1, 2022, with a sharp focus on startups that are shaping the future of Australia’s payments ecosystem.
Shortlisted applicants may be invited to a 30-minute virtual meeting with a member of the x15 Portfolio team, which is meant to go deeper into their venture, with 15 to 20 teams chosen to progress to the Xccelerate Community Day on September 13, 2022.
Toby Norton-Smith, MD at x15ventures, stated:
“Xccelerate 2022 is an investment program for founders interested in scaling their businesses with enterprise partners. From an early investment, ventures can deepen their relationship with CBA, with potential for further investment, opening a pathway to distribution, integration, and other strategic benefits.
Toby added:
“Payments are infrastructure – this is a blessing and a curse for any start-up – the benefits of delivering new innovation are enormous as they cut across the economy, but the threshold for getting it right is equally high. This is why enterprise partnership could be one way to remove some risk for founders. We’re looking forward to receiving high-calibre applications.”
The three-part Xccelerate program should assist early-stage teams with understanding how to navigate enterprise sales and key partnerships; connect with industry experts in fields like risk, legal, cyber and marketing; and also pitch effectively for funding that should facilitate a pathway to a partnership with CBA through x15.
Laura Faulconer, portfolio director, x15ventures, added:
“For this year’s Xccelerate we’re interested in teams innovating anywhere across the payments ecosystem, in areas like making payments more efficient and intelligent, solving cash flow challenges for small businesses, or providing value-add services at the point-of-sale. After two years of Xccelerate being a virtual-only event, we’re really pleased to be able to offer this year’s applicants the chance to join us for a series of in-person workshops, mentoring sessions, and panel discussions.”
Xccelerate alumni reportedly include givvable (winner back in 2020), OwnHome (winner of the second cohort in 2020) and 2021’s leading team Splashup.