Plaid announced on Wednesday the inaugural cohort of five early-stage fintech startups for FinRise, which is Plaid’s incubator program to empower early-stage entrepreneurs that are Black, Indigenous or People of Color.
As previously reported, FinRise is a nine-month program designed to support early-stage founders in launching their businesses by focusing on three key areas of support. Plaid reported that since launching, the incubator has received more than 100 applications and offers to support of Plaid’s efforts from the broader ecosystem.
“We received applications from founders with use cases varying from payments, to financial literacy, to ecommerce. Our selection process was two fold: an initial review from the core FinRise program team and an additional review from an independent Internal Advisory Board, evaluating applicants based on our core criteria ¹, recommended stage ², and the ability for the FinRise program to provide value.”
The five startups selected for FinRise’s inaugural cohort class are the following:
- Global Data Consortium: Global identity verification API offering both eKYC and eKYB verification for businesses
- Guidefi: Financial wellness marketplace connecting communities of color to vetted, culturally attuned financial advisors
- OfColor: Enterprise financial wellness platform for employees of color including personalized PFM and loans that allow them to maximize their 401k contribution
- Walnut: Point-of-sale lending platform that works with medical providers to make healthcare more affordable for patients
- Zeta: Financial products and tools for couples and families
Plaid went on to reveal that the FinRise program will kick off with a three-day bootcamp consisting of nine workshops covering topics from navigating the policy and regulatory environment to defining a marketing and communications strategy. Plaid added:
“Over the nine months, we’ll continue to host workshops and networking opportunities with external partners to provide even more touchpoints for the startups in our cohort in addition to access to discounted services and credits from our network partners. Thank you to all of our current and new capital and network partners supporting the program.”
