Opportunity for fintech entrepreneurs

Cape Town - Applications have opened for the second cohort of the Barclays Accelerator, Powered by Techstars in Cape Town.

The search is on for exceptional fintech founders who are tackling difficult problems and are going after big opportunities.

The organisers are specifically looking for founders (who have a minimal viable product) and working on applications of financial inclusion, mobile solutions, insure-tech, payments, big data, agri-tech and beyond.

The most attractive applications will have solutions that can have a major impact across Barclays globally.

"Applications must have an African focus and are allowed from anyone and from anywhere," according to the organisers.

Applications close on 5 February and the 13-week programme begins on 9 May at the Rise fintech innovation hub in Woodstock, Cape Town.

Barclays Africa has already signed initial collaboration agreements with 7 of the 10 start-ups that were part of the programme last year.

READ: Fintech fertile ground for young entrepreneurs

Yasaman Hadjibashi, leading the innovation agenda for the bank says Africa has tremendous untapped potential to not only pioneer its own creative solutions for its unique contexts, but to also create solutions that the rest of the world can adopt for their own contexts.

According to the Disrupt Africa African Start-ups Funding Report 2015, 29% of investment in African tech start-ups goes to those focused on fintech, suggesting a substantial opportunity for innovative ventures in the sector.

Selected start-ups will be given the opportunity to enter or expand their presence in the African marketplace via Barclays Africa Group’s customer, product, and technology teams. The selected start-ups will also have the chance to scale globally through Rise sites in London, New York, Mumbai, Tel Aviv and Vilnius.

The Accelerator offers companies an advantage over others by providing a proven curriculum and lifelong access to the Techstars global network of mentors, investors and venture capitalists.

Yossi Hasson, managing director of Techstars, believes that being part of Techstars gives companies such an advantage when it comes to scaling globally. The depth of experience that the Techstars team and global mentor network has in working with and investing in over 900 start-ups is unprecedented for the African continent, in his view.

Fintech companies can apply here.

WATCH: What happened during the first cohort

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