Winning Ideas Leverage Technology and Life
Experience to Focus on Financing College, Improving Savings and
Accessing Credit
Today the Financial Solutions Lab (FinLab) at the Center for
Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) with founding partner JPMorgan
Chase & Co. announced eight fintech innovators as winners of
its Fourth Annual $3 Million Challenge (Challenge). Each of the
2018 winners employs technology-based strategies like automation,
underwriting and machine learning to help improve the financial
health of underrepresented populations in the U.S.
The winning solutions, announced today on stage at EMERGE Forum
2018, help underserved and financially strapped consumers finance
college, reduce debt, improve savings and access credit. Each
winner will receive $250,000 in capital, strategic guidance and
mentorship from CFSI and JPMorgan Chase, and additional resources
to test, enhance and scale their products.
“We continue to be amazed by the entrepreneurial spirit
exhibited by Challenge winners and the impact they seek to make in
the everyday lives of overlooked populations,” said Jennifer
Tescher, founder and CEO of CFSI. “This year’s Challenge winners
leverage technology in profound ways – often informed by their own
personal challenges and life experiences – to provide help for the
138 million people in America who struggle with their financial
health.”
“We remain committed to promoting the financial health of
underrepresented communities in the U.S. and are incredibly proud
to mentor and support this talented pool of entrepreneurs,” said
Head of Community Innovation at JPMorgan Chase Colleen Briggs. “We
are excited to welcome these companies to a community of fintechs
that are improving and scaling solutions for millions of
underserved Americans.”
The FinLab’s focus on financial health for another year reflects
research from CFSI, which found that approximately 57 percent of
consumers in the U.S. are financially unhealthy. This affects some
segments of the population disproportionately. For instance,
research from the JPMorgan Chase Institute identified a gap in
financial outcomes, with women exhibiting roughly 20 percent lower
levels of income, spending and liquid assets.
The 2018 competition sought a broad range of solutions to
improve the consumer financial health of diverse segments of people
in America struggling with their finances. To this end, applicants
were strongly encouraged to support diversity in solutions,
customer focus and founding teams.
Together, the final Challenge winners offer solutions serving
college students, young families, underserved populations and
seniors. Many of these companies reflect the personal financial
struggles faced by founders and are deeply rooted in real-life
experiences.
Raised by a single mother, Goalsetter.co founder Tanya Van Court
remembers knowing a lot about hard work, but not a lot about how to
manage money. “I had to learn about sound financial management on
the fly and later in life,” said Van Court. “Because kids with
saving accounts in their names are six times more likely to go to
college, Goalsetter can teach them about financial planning at an
early age and set them on a path towards a brighter future.”
"The Sixup team shares the DNA of the students we serve. We grew
up in single-parent, low-income families. We were immigrants and
the first in our families to go to college. We had no options but
to hack our own financing and mobility within a system biased
against us,” said Sixup founder Sunwoo Hwang. “We built Sixup to
level the playing field for the next generation, so we can scale
and lift undervalued, deserving human capital into education,
workforce and upward mobility."
Meet the Winners:
- Alice (New York, NY) is
an employer-distributed benefit that allows employees to automate
pre-tax spending on things like commuting, childcare, and
healthcare; paychecks go up and paperwork goes away;
- FutureFuel.io (Boston,
MA) is student debt repayment, round up and refi made
easy. FutureFuel.io exists to crush student debt via
innovative technology, partnerships and data-driven solutions that
empower the user to go beyond -- beyond debt, into wellness and
ultimately wealth;
- Goalsetter (New York, NY)
is a goal-based savings and gifting platform that lets kids and
families redirect money typically spent on excess consumer goods
towards saving for the future, sharing with others and spending on
things or experiences that matter most to them;
- Mason Finance Inc. (San
Francisco, CA) offers the first online financial services
platform exclusively serving older Americans. Its launch product
enables people aged 65 and older to sell their life insurance
before they surrender or lapse their policies;
- Petal (New York, NY)
pioneers cash flow underwriting to expand credit access for
new-to-credit consumers and offer a safe, affordable, no-fee credit
card that doesn’t require a credit score;
- Resolve (Oakland, CA) is a
free platform designed to guide financially distressed people back
to financial health by creating a custom debt relief plan and
connecting them with an integrated network of affordable debt
relief partners;
- Sixup (San Francisco, CA)
provides high-achieving, low-income college students
(a.k.a. Future-Prime™) with responsible, affordable gap loans
and digital wrap-around support to de-risk and promote positive
outcomes for upward mobility;
- WinWin (New York, NY)
helps young Americans save by providing fun, daily motivation.
Users link their bank accounts, set up auto deposits into an
FDIC-insured savings account and play a game once a day with
chances to win instant cash prizes. The more they save, the bigger
the prizes grow.
Each company will receive networking and advisory opportunities
to grow and scale their business, $250,000 in capital, as well as
the following benefits:
- Access to the CFSI Network and
partnership opportunities that can help innovators increase product
reach;
- 1:1 ongoing mentorship and expertise
provided by CFSI and JPMorgan Chase executives and other industry
leaders, such as ideas 42, IDEO.org, Paul Hastings, Promontory
Financial and Google;
- Peer learning opportunities via
in-person retreats throughout the year and regular virtual working
sessions.
FinLab’s First Three Years
To date, FinLab has supported 26 financial technology companies
from more than 1,300 total applicants. Winning companies are
offering innovative financial products that reach over 2.5 million
Americans and have seen 20x growth since joining the FinLab.
Collectively, FinLab companies have raised over $300 million in
capital since joining the program and have helped Americans save
over $1 billion.
The three FinLab classes to date have included startups
rethinking how to address such issues as expense tracking
(Everlance), savings (nonprofit EARN; Digit), planning (Albert),
debt restructuring (Lendstreet), payments management (EarnUp),
income volatility assistance (Even; Dave.com), access to credit
(Nova), protecting Aging Americans against elder fraud (EverSafe)
and SNAP benefits management (Propel).
To learn more about the history of the Challenge and its current
and previous winners, visit
http://finlab.cfsinnovation.com/challenge-2018/.
About the Financial Solutions Lab
The Financial Solutions Lab is a $30 million, five-year
initiative managed by the Center for Financial Services Innovation
(CFSI) with founding partner JPMorgan Chase & Co. to identify,
test and expand the availability of promising innovations that help
people in America increase savings, improve credit, and build
assets. For more information,
visit http://finlab.cfsinnovation.org/.
About CFSI
The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is the
nation’s authority on consumer financial health. CFSI leads a
network of financial services innovators committed to building a
more robust financial services marketplace with higher quality
products and services, specifically for those who are struggling.
Through its Compass Principles and a lineup of proprietary
research, insights, and events, CFSI informs, advises, and connects
members of its network to seed the innovation that will transform
the financial services landscape. For more on CFSI, go to
www.cfsinnovation.org and follow CFSI on Twitter at
@CFSInnovation.
About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global
financial services firm with assets of $2.6 trillion and operations
worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial
services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking,
financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component
of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
serves millions of customers in the United States and many of the
world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government
clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
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Media:Cosmo PR for CFSIMichael Azzano,
415-596-1978michael@cosmo-pr.comorJPMorgan Chase & Co.Amalia
Kontesi, 212-270-2376amalia.kontesi@jpmchase.com
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