Waves of startups keep rolling into the fintech scene, and on Tuesday, 11 companies (see slideshow) graduated from the Barclays Accelerator in New York, diving into this rapidly filling sea.
The 13-week program is run by a partnership between British bank Barclays and startup accelerator Techstars. They have already conducted a version of the accelerator in London, and will bring it next to Tel Aviv, Israel, and Cape Town, South Africa.
Jenny Fielding heads up the New York branch, and she also serves as managing director of the separate R/GA Accelerator in New York, another partnership program for Techstars.
With the Barclays Accelerator in New York finishing its first go-round, Fielding said she was not concerned about the rush of fintech startups coming to the scene. Half the teams that graduated from the class have technology that is applicable in media and advertising, in addition to financial services, she said. “I don’t look at just fintech companies,” she said. “I’m looking for mostly B-to-B companies that can be deployed across various verticals.”
Fintech has built up a lot of momentum lately with more startups emerging in this space. Some have even called the sector “frothy,” as a plethora of players chase similar parts of the market.
The marriage of startups and the financial world was likely inevitable in New York, given the city’s deeply entrenched history with financial institutions. More new companies across the country may want a piece of this sector, but there is a bit of a home-field advantage for startups that are a subway ride away from Wall Street and the rest of the Financial District.
Startups are weaving their way into the financial world in substantial ways here—including through the NY Fintech Innovation Lab, which has run for some five years now; companies such as GoldBean demoing at the NY Tech Meetup; and a few teams from the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator that are also getting in on the action.
In cities such as London, Fielding said, fintech has seen a lot of newcomers and accelerators jumping into the financial industry’s waters, but the New York scene is at an early stage of its development. Furthermore, several teams in the Barclays New York Accelerator’s first class came from outside the United States in order to get their feet wet here. “I don’t think we’ve hit the peak in fintech in New York yet,” Fielding said.
