WHY WE’VE PARTNERED WITH MASSCHALLENGE FINTECH:
So far, 2020 has challenged the ways in which we live our lives, and will take solid relationship-building, strength of the community and collaboration between both the public and private sectors to define our new normal. For MassChallenge FinTech 2021, the City of Boston and the Boston Planning Development Agency are partnering up on two challenges to present to the MassChallenge startups that focus on relationship-building, strengthening community engagement and public-private partnerships.
City government is deeply engaged in creating a better Boston today and for the future. Many of its departments and agencies are tasked with very big projects across many important topics such as climate resiliency, affordable housing, small business, health, safety, education and so many more. The City has experienced a significant amount of growth, but is continually working to address affordability, which is a primary concern for our residents and local businesses owners.
OUR CHALLENGES:
1. Helping Small Businesses Build Credit
Additionally, we’ve seen more and more of our neighborhood mom and pop stores suffer due to unaffordable rents, in-accessibility to highly foot-trafficked areas, or inability to achieve the credit profile needed to compete with larger chains to keep their businesses running smoothly. The City of Boston and the BPDA is seeking to partner with a startup to help find solutions for small and local businesses to build credit, and potentially even a solution that allows for mobile/transferable credit.
2. Keeping Commercial Spaces Vibrant
The city is looking to partner with an innovative company to help to ensure that non-billboard storefronts are able to occupy ground-level commercial space. We are looking for creative ways to identify and support small businesses that will become tenants in city-owned commercial space, as well as building a framework for non-city stakeholders to use to ensure they’re providing space to locally-founded small businesses that form the backbone of Boston’s neighborhoods.
HOW WE WILL HELP STARTUPS GROW THEIR BUSINESSES:
The City is looking for locally engaged startups interested in finding innovative solutions for some of the City’s biggest challenges that directly impacts its residents and has lasting positive effects for future generations. Since the City has many wide-spread projects and deeply integrated touchpoints, the City can be a great resource for information and contacts for startups working on solutions to these issues. We will partner to help you develop solutions that are relevant to the City, and commercially viable with future private-sector partners. We can also leverage our network of public and private sector leaders to help you get expert insight as you continue to scale your business.