Boston, MA (December 17, 2020) – MassChallenge FinTech (MCFT) today announced the 30 startups that will join the 2021 cohort. MassChallenge FinTech invites the community to meet the 2021 startups at MassChallenge Verticals Opening Night, a virtual introduction to MassChallenge’s digital health and financial technology cohorts on January 13, 2021. 

“This has been our most competitive and diverse applicant pool to date,” said Devon Sherman, Managing Director of MassChallenge FinTech. “We’re excited by the range of solutions and perspectives this year’s cohort brings – in our experience, this diversity of backgrounds and ideas is what drives true innovation.”

MassChallenge FinTech accelerates outcomes-driven partnerships between startups and enterprises to fuel innovation. From January to June, startups will work 1:1 with one or more partners to tackle specific challenges facing the financial services industry, from alternative data and risk management to small business solutions. MassChallenge’s model facilitates these partnerships to produce meaningful results, all the while helping fintech startups become more enterprise-ready and enterprises become more startup-ready.

“This year‘s MassChallenge program was instrumental in helping us find companies with whom to partner in solving important business issues,” said Jason Guenther, Head of Investment & Operations Technologies at Putnam Investments. “Our partnership with MassChallenge has accelerated our digital journey and enabled us to think differently about how to leverage technology to improve business outcomes.”

The program is supported by a public-private partnership that includes founding partners Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Putnam Investments, Fidelity Investments, Citizens Bank, John Hancock, and the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP); challenge partners AARP, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, City of Boston, Boston Private, KPMG, and BayCoast Bank; gold partners Radius Bank, Commonwealth, Goodwin Procter, and SEI Ventures; and innovation support partners FinTech Sandbox, Brandeis International Business School, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, and the Financial Revolutionist. 

MassChallenge FinTech is excited to welcome its latest challenge partner and first community bank partner, BayCoast Bank, which has served the people and businesses of southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island since its charter in 1851.

“BayCoast Bank is proud to be partnering with MassChallenge and continuing our commitment to product offerings in the fintech space,” said Dan DeCosta, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer. “By leveraging expertise and start-up relationships fostered through the MassChallenge FinTech program, we have the unique opportunity to collaborate with many different fintech providers. The insight gained through this partnership will help the bank adapt to changing technologies in our industry, and in a way that aligns with our core philosophies.”

This year, MassChallenge FinTech’s 10 Challenge partners extended 36 offers to 30 startups from 4 different countries and 11 U.S. states. To date, MassChallenge FinTech has been a key player in the burgeoning Boston fintech ecosystem, serving as a connector and champion for fintech startups from around the world. The program has facilitated more than 150 engagements between startups and enterprises since 2018 and remains committed to advancing fintech through collaboration.

“At MCFT, we believe in the power of partnership,” said Sherman. “Our program seeks to create opportunities for collaboration not only between startups and corporates, but also between startups themselves and across various industries. The ubiquity of fintech necessitates it, and the potential for impact is huge.”

MASSCHALLENGE FINTECH 2021 COHORT:

Accern (New York)

Accern accelerates AI workflows for enterprises with a no-code development platform.

And Financial (New Hampshire)

And Financial helps individuals transform student debt into retirement assets.

Beekin (New York)

Beekin is an asset management platform for commercial real estate investors, powered by big data and machine learning. 

Bellwethr (Kansas)

Bellwethr helps businesses maximize each of their customer’s lifetime values with predictive and prescriptive analytics.

Bodeswell (Massachusetts)

BodesWell partners with the largest financial services companies to move people toward their financial goals.

Compliance.ai (California)

Compliance.ai is a modernized regulatory change management solution.

eCredable (Georgia)

eCredable helps consumers and small business owners build stronger credit profiles to access better financial products and services.

EmpowerYu (California)

EmPowerYu is tackling the eldercare crisis by giving medically vulnerable people and their caregivers continuous risk assessment from home.

Farther Finance (California)

A family office used to be for billionaires. Farther Finances replaces legacy tech and archaic processes to pull that experience forward.

Finaeo (Ontario)

Finaeo is streamlining insurance distribution by connecting insurance carriers, advisors, and clients through an integrated experience.

Flourish Savings (California)

Flourish provides financial institutions with a tailored engagement platform to drive deposits and deeper relationships.

Gig Wage (Texas)

Financial infrastructure for the future of work. Gig Wage helps companies and platforms pay independent workers, aka gig workers & freelancers.

Goalsetter (New York)

Goalsetter is the smartest money app for the whole family – from cradle to graduation, including parents, too.

gravityAI (New York)

gravityAI is a platform for Enterprise business teams to explore, test, and intergrade AI algorithms without needing to know how to code.

Habu (Massachusetts)

Habu is the leading Data Clean Room application, enabling safe data sharing between companies with privacy and security at its core.

HomeZada (California)

HomeZada is a personal finance/fintech platform for consumers to manage their largest financial asset and largest expense, their home.

Knoema Corporation (New York) 

Knoema is a data technology platform that helps make global, alternative, subscription and internal data discoverable and useful.

Manetu (New Jersey)

Manetu’s Consumer Privacy Management platform offers seamless, dynamic and intelligent end to end management of consumer consent and data access.

Monit (Massachusetts) 

Monit is a predictive cashflow and financial optimization platform designed for business owners as an intelligent, always-on advisor.

myGini (California)

Magic in your cards. Rewards and shopping offers to make spending and saving money easier. White labeled for your brand.

Optalitix (London)

Optalitix offers an innovative AI and technology software platform offering products to rapidly enable financial services companies to use AI.

Owlin (Amsterdam)

Owlin is a news analytics tool that helps finance professionals monitor their portfolio proactively, continuously, and in real-time.

Qoins Technologies (Georgia)

Qoins is a financial wellness app that helps consumers pay off their debt faster by combining financial education and automation.

Retail MarketPoint (Rhode Island) 

Every retail real estate transaction in the U.S. – every property sale, lease, loan, or investment – can be measured by a Retail MarketPoint BrandScore™.

Retirable (New York)

Retirable helps pre-retirees plan for a better future with free access to professional retirement guidance and planning services.

Rialto Markets (New York) 

Rialto democratizes and expands private markets for both issuers and investors.

TCARE (Missouri) 

TCARE reduces the risk of Medicaid & LTC insurance claims via an evidence-based family caregiver support program.

WEVO (Massachusetts) 

WEVO is the only tool that pinpoints why visitors aren’t converting and generates recommendations to improve conversion, before going live.

Workscope (London) 

Workscope uses data analytics & business intelligence to understand, govern and manage risk for spreadsheet driven operations.

Worthright (Massachusetts)

Worthright is a FinTech company that takes the ambiguity out of planning and paying for long-term care.

 

MassChallenge FinTech Founding Partners 

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Putnam Investments, Fidelity Investments, John Hancock, Citizens Bank, and the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership.

MassChallenge FinTech Advisory Board

Mike Fanning, MassMutual; Mohammed Dastigir, MassMutual; Sumedh Mehta, Putnam Investments; Sean Belka, Fidelity Investments; Tatyana Zakrevskaya, John Hancock; Peter DeFrancesco, John Hancock; Lamont Young, Citizens Bank; Sarah Biller, Vantage Ventures.

About MassChallenge 

MassChallenge is the global network for innovators. Headquartered in the United States with seven locations worldwide, MassChallenge equips bold entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo and to create meaningful change. Since launching in 2009, more than 2,400 MassChallenge alumni have raised more than $6.2B in funding, generated more than $3B in revenue, and created more than 157,000 total jobs. Learn more about MassChallenge at masschallenge.org.