L'Atelier BNP Paribas opens applications for Season 2 of Fintech & Corporate Accelerator

On the heels of the successful Season 1, Explains Emmanuel Touboul, Head of Accelerator Programmes at L'Atelier BNP Paribas, L'Atelier BNP Paribas is now launching Season 2 of its Fintech & Corporate Accelerator programme – a 4-month programme that aims to create value for fintech startups as well as BNP Paribas group businesses.

The programme is designed to enable the bank's various businesses to embark on, or bring to fruition, an Open Innovation project with specific strategic objectives such as exploring for new sources of growth or the optimization of internal processes.

Starting in March 2017, 10 selected startups will be working in tandem with various Group entities. These startups will be provided with optimal conditions in which to find the right 'market fit', including tailored business and technical support, introductions to BNP Paribas Group businesses and departments, and free-of-charge hosting at the WAI premises in Paris - all intended to help them achieve an initial level of revenue in France and/or abroad.

"What we're offering startups is unique in the financial sector”, Emmanuel Touboul, Head of Accelerator Programmes at L'Atelier BNP Paribas, said. “We provide our chosen startups with intensive support on a 1 - 1 basis, as every project is entirely unique. We can help whether the primary need is to find financing, build revenue or test their business model. We and the various BNP Paribas Group businesses are looking forward to receiving new applications for the Accelerator."

Interested candidates have until 15th January to apply for the programme. According to the official announcement, the bank is seeking applications from startups involved in areas such as digital banking solutions, asset management, vehicle fleet management and car leasing, and working with technologies including inter alia artificial intelligence, machine learning, automatic processing of natural language and data analysis. 

The programme will culminate in a Demo Day, to be held in June 2017, which will feature assessment of results to date and the drawing up of action plans.