Skip to Main Content

Join It

Tap into our global network of business mentors, venture capitalists, and enterprise executives. We're here to drive innovation, not our financial return. And unlike other accelerators, we're nonexclusive. You're free to join other programs and find additional funding along the way.

Prove It

Breaking into the Fortune 500 market is a challenge, but we can give you an edge. So you can focus on what's next, our experienced team will test your concept to help validate its technology and market direction to prove your product is enterprise ready.

Grow It

Our goal is your commercial success. From day one, your company's affiliation with the program will enhance your industry exposure and position you to quickly expand into the enterprise marketplace.

Startup Accelerator: Applications closed

To learn more about the program, please visit our frequently asked questions(FAQs).

About

The Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator is a hands-on program designed to advance startups that create solutions for enterprise customers - inside and outside the financial industry.

Application, review & decision

We accept applications twice each year. The review process includes technical and executive reviews. We typically email applicants first-stage review results within one month after the application period ends.

Program initiation

Once selected, we'll collaborate on the working strategy between your company and Wells Fargo and, if applicable, assist in the execution of proof-of-concept projects.

Up to $500,000 investment

We fund each selected startup with investments up to $500,000. While we have a vested interest in your company's success, we're here primarily to encourage innovation, so Wells Fargo will maintain only a minority equity stake in your company.

6-Month program

Our intensive program helps companies understand what it takes to become part of the corporate stack. After the program, companies may continue to work with us on proof of concepts across different business lines within Wells Fargo.

Leverage our network

Test, prove, and grow your concept by connecting with business mentors, venture capitalists, and enterprise executives.

To learn more about the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, view our frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Companies

Our growing family

Edquity offers the first-of-its-kind college financial planning app for high school and college students, supporting students as a "to-and-through" platform through each and every financial decision on the road to college graduation... More +

Visit: www.edquity.co

Hurdlr is a rapidly growing startup whose API and mobile apps provide financial, tax, and performance insights for "The 1099 Economy," including consumers, freelancers, independent contractors, and self-employed small business owners. More +

Visit: www.hurdlr.com

Redrock Biometrics developed the first practical palm-print based authentication software, PalmID. Made possible through several patented algorithmic breakthroughs, PalmID is more accurate than fingerprint authentication, as palms are more unique. More +

Visit: redrockbiometrics.com

SimSpace Corporation is a cybersecurity technology company established by experts from US Cyber Command and NSA and its technology is based on research conducted at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. More +

Visit: www.simspace.com

Close

Edquity

Edquity logo
  • Founded: 2016
  • Located: Brooklyn, NY

Edquity offers the first-of-its-kind college financial planning app for high school and college students, supporting students as a "to-and-through" platform through each and every financial decision on the road to college graduation. The app helps students articulate the short- and long-term financial implications of any college of interest - inclusive of net cost, debt, potential earnings, and cost of living - and map out a financial plan that ensures they will have the means to graduate and achieve financial success thereafter.

Visit: https://edquity.co

How we benefited from this program

"We're extremely excited to join the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator to explore ways to scale the impact of our work helping students navigate the numerous financial challenges related to selecting, financing, and surviving college." - David Helene, cofounder and chief executive officer of Edquity

Hurdlr

Hurdlr logo
  • Founded: 2012
  • Located: Washington, D.C.

Hurdlr is a rapidly growing startup whose API and mobile apps provide financial, tax, and performance insights for "The 1099 Economy," including consumers, freelancers, independent contractors, and self-employed small business owners. The company's API allows businesses, financial institutions, and other organizations to tap into the power of Hurdlr's modern financial platform to create innovative, tailored solutions that proactively improve their customers' financial performance.

Visit: http://www.hurdlr.com/

How we benefited from this program

"By joining the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator we look forward to further demonstrating how Hurdlr's Profit & Tax Engine might be leveraged by financial institutions and others for the benefit of their customers." - Raj Bhaskar, chief executive officer of Hurdlr

Redrock Biometrics

Redrock Biometrics logo
  • Founded: 2015
  • Located: San Francisco, CA

Redrock Biometrics developed the first practical palm-print based authentication software, PalmID. Made possible through several patented algorithmic breakthroughs, PalmID is more accurate than fingerprint authentication, as palms are more unique. It works on any device with a camera, from phones and laptops to VR/AR headsets to ATMs. Waving your hand at the device makes sign in simple, fast, and secure.

Visit: http://www.redrockbiometrics.com/

How we benefited from this program

"Our PalmID is a perfect fit for fintech user authentication. The Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator program will provide resources and connections that are critical for us to engage this market." - Hua Yang, chief executive officer of Redrock Biometrics.

SimSpace

SimSpace logo
  • Founded: 2015
  • Located: Boston

SimSpace Corporation is a cybersecurity technology company established by experts from US Cyber Command and NSA and its technology is based on research conducted at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The state-of-the-art network emulation and modeling tools provide software-based, quantitative insights into how a company can protect its critical assets against an advanced cyber threat that could destroy portions of its network or manipulate or steal its most sensitive data.

Visit: http://www.simspace.com

How we benefited from this program

"Our relationship with the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator significantly enhances our efforts to both radically improve the cybersecurity landscape and to become the trusted source for cybersecurity testing and risk assessments." - William Hutchison, chief executive officer and cofounder of SimSpace

Close

Alpha Fintech

Alpha Fintech logo
  • Founded: 2011
  • Located: Singapore

Alpha Fintech consolidates the entire payments world onto one Payments-as-a-Service platform, the AlphaHub, which enables banks, merchants, PSPs and ISOs to access any payment type, any solution provider, anywhere in the world. The depth and range of connected service providers and solutions span across the entire transactional, risk management and commerce solution spectrum. The AlphaHub's orchestration engine enables users to customize down to the individual transaction layer using conditional logic, leveraging each vendor's unique functionality and benefits.

Visit: www.alphafin.tech

How we benefited from this program

"Despite the wave of payments innovation, there is a massive disconnect across legacy acquirers on how to capitalize on it. Working with Wells Fargo allows us to learn from one of the world's most significant and experienced banks and MSP's and draw upon its deep knowledge pool to continue to evolve our solution and stay ahead of the game." - Oliver Rajic, chief executive officer of Alpha Fintech

Bracket Computing

Bracket Computing logo
  • Founded: 2011
  • Located: Mountain View, CA

Bracket provides a secure cloud-computing environment that meets or exceeds the requirements of even the most secure private data center environments, allowing the financial services industry to run extremely complex and sensitive workloads on the public cloud.

Visit: www.brkt.com

How we benefited from this program

"Our vision at Bracket Computing is to utilize the public cloud to fundamentally redefine the corporate data center. Our work with Wells Fargo and inclusion in the Accelerator Program is a great endorsement of that vision." - Tom Gillis, chief executive officer of Bracket Computing

Context360

Context360 logo
  • Founded: 2014
  • Located: Sunnyvale, CA

Context360 has developed the first autonomous mobile personalization solution that seamlessly integrates insights into mobile application use with contextual information derived from smartphone sensors to provide brand marketers with direct access to unmatched insights into user interests, status, motion patterns, and trends.

Visit: www.context360.com

How we benefited from this program

"Wells Fargo understands that innovation comes from many directions and industries. The Accelerator program is designed perfectly for leading-edge technology startups to apply solutions for the financial community that were originally intended for very different markets." - Ratnam Tatavarty, cofounder and chief technology officer of Context360

EyeVerify

EyeVerify logo
  • Founded: 2012
  • Located: Kansas City, MO

Eyeprint ID, created by EyeVerify, transforms an ordinary selfie into a key that protects your digital life. This patented, software-only biometric solution is 99.99% accurate and extremely scalable. In less than one second, employees and customers can experience password-free mobility and convenient, secure, private authentication.

Visit: www.eyeverify.com

How we benefited from this program

"No marketplace validation could be stronger than strategic investments by giants in the mobile space, including the largest security software firm in world, the leading bank in the United States, and a wireless network operator serving more than 50 million U.S. customers." - Toby Rush, founder and chief executive officer of EyeVerify

Gridspace

Gridspace logo
  • Founded: 2013
  • Located: San Francisco, CA

Gridspace unlocks conversation data in enterprise communications. The company's software, which combines new techniques in the fields of speech recognition, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence, assists the review and documentation of business phone calls. The company is backed by SRI International, Wells Fargo Accelerator, and Bloomberg Beta, among others. It's flagship application, Gridspace Memo, is in trials now.

Visit: www.gridspace.com

How we benefited from this program

"Connectivity isn't the issue anymore. It's making sure the content contained in each call is cataloged and analyzed. Working with Wells Fargo allows us to learn from its leadership in financial services and to discover new use cases for voice technology." - Evan Macmillan, chief executive officer of Gridspace

Jewel Paymentech

Jewel Paymentech logo
  • Founded: 2014
  • Located: Singapore

Jewel Paymentech is a financial risk technology company founded in 2014 with a mission to develop intelligent risk solutions for the banking and electronic payments industry. Jewel's suite of solutions helps banks and payment facilitators conduct merchant due diligence and manage transaction fraud risks using predictive analytics. Jewel also offers automated real-time solutions to large merchants such as marketplaces, to identify illegal and counterfeit goods. In 2015, Jewel was named by SWIFT as one of the most promising FinTech companies in Asia.

Visit: www.jewelpaymentech.com

How we benefited from this program

"We are excited that our technology has been recognized by Wells Fargo. This recognition affirms our vision in delivering intelligent merchant risk solutions, especially amidst the challenges of a changing payments landscape." - Sean Lam, chief executive officer of Jewel Paymentech

Kasisto

Kasisto logo
  • Founded: 2013
  • Located: New York, NY

Kasisto, the spin-off venture of SRI International and the creator of the iOS personal assistant, takes virtual personal assistants to the next level by providing virtual specialists. The company is initially focusing on financial services and working to quickly perform complex transactions on mobile devices through speech, text, and touch.

Visit: www.kasisto.com

How we benefited from this program

"We are thrilled to receive support from investors with such deep knowledge and connections in the financial services industry. The tremendous interest we received in this round validates our mission to enable businesses to radically simplify and enhance consumers' daily lives through virtual specialists." - Zor Gorelov, cofounder and chief executive officer of Kasisto

MotionSavvy

MotionSavvy logo
  • Founded: 2013
  • Located: Rochester, NY

MotionSavvy is developing a translation tool for the deaf and hard of hearing by working with gesture recognition technology Leap Motion along with various mobile devices which targets sign language users for improved accessibility. Its goal is to provide the 370 million deaf and hard-of-hearing market worldwide with a cost-affordable product against current competitors.

Visit: www.motionsavvy.com

How we benefited from this program

"MotionSavvy's acceptance into the Wells Fargo Accelerator program will help launch the world's first affordable communication option for the deaf. An estimated 70 million deaf people use sign language as their primary language, including myself, and experience communication barriers on a daily basis. MotionSavvy brings a new era of communication for the deaf that will have profound impact on the quality of life we deserve." - Ryan Hait-Campbell, cofounder and chief executive officer of MotionSavvy

ProxToMe

ProxToMe logo
  • Founded: 2012
  • Located: San Francisco, CA

ProxToMe is a SaaS proximity technology for mobile access to any smart device. Within a mobile wallet, ProxToMe delivers cross-platform contactless mobile access to self-checkout kiosks, POS terminals, ATMs, gaming machines... the possibilities are endless.

Visit: http://proxtome.com/

How we benefited from this program

"We're very excited that Wells Fargo has selected us for the acceleration program. Working with one of the world's largest banks will gives us invaluable support to apply our proximity technology to mobile payments, build awareness around our brand, and accelerate our go-to-market." - Carlo Capello, chief executive officer of ProxToMe

Roostify

Roostify logo
  • Founded: 2012
  • Located: San Francisco, CA

Roostify is a web and mobile service that makes the home buying experience easier and quicker for everyone involved. Led by technology, real estate and mortgage banking experts, Roostify provides step-by-step guidance in home and loan closing.

Visit: www.roostify.com

How we benefited from this program

"Technology that automates any lengthy process, such as the process of purchasing a home, is a welcome addition to both lenders and consumers who are looking for efficiency in a daunting process. We are thrilled to have been accepted into the Wells Fargo Accelerator program and look forward to working with the bank to further enhance our technology platform for lenders and consumers." - Rajesh Bhat, cofounder and chief executive officer of Roostify

Splice Machine

Splice Machine logo
  • Founded: 2012
  • Located: San Francisco, CA

Leveraging in-memory technology from Spark and scale-out capabilities from Hadoop, Splice Machine can replace Oracle ® and MySQL ™ databases, while increasing performance by 10-20x at one-fourth the cost. The Splice Machine RDBMS provides exceptional performance for simultaneous OLAP and OLTP workloads, enabling companies to unlock the insights in their Big Data to make decisions in the moment.

Visit: www.splicemachine.com

How we benefited from this program

"We are proud to be selected for the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator program. It validates the Splice Machine RDBMS value proposition to the financial services industry, where the need to more quickly manage rapid data growth to make more in-the-moment, data-driven decisions is growing." - Monte Zweben, cofounder and chief executive officer at Splice Machine

Uniken

Uniken logo
  • Founded: 2013
  • Located: San Francisco, CA

Uniken's mission is to make connecting safe. We ensure that our customer's Digital Channels have the controls required to survive zero day attacks which enables our client's to remain in control of their Digital Channel risks. Our product, REL-ID, offers customer friendly, continuous omni-channel authentication services combined with protections against failures of the OS and transport layer. Our transport layer control provides the industry's most advance white-listed connectivity control that reduces the attack surface of the whole digital channel. REL-ID further offers encryption services for persistent local storage.

Visit: http://www.uniken.com/

How we benefited from this program

"We feel that Uniken's innovative approach to Digital Channel security moves the needle from the reactive to the proactive, dramatically reducing the attack surface of an organization's services. It is great to be part of the Wells Fargo Accelerator program as they are designed to explore big ideas like ours that change the industry. We look forward to collaborating the Wells Fargo team as we evolve our system-to-system connectivity solution." - Bimal Gandhi, chief executive officer of Uniken

Zumigo

Zumigo logo
  • Founded: 2008
  • Located: San Jose, CA

Zumigo is pioneering a new generation of mobile services predicated on providing deeper insights into consumer behavior to help secure transactions, devices, and identities. Its global solutions support onboarding new customers, separating valid transactions from fraudulent ones, verifying payments, and marketing to customers with location in context.

Visit: www.zumigo.com

How we benefited from this program

"Zumigo is honored to be accepted as one of the first members of the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator. While current industry practice often waits for customers to report fraud that they notice on their accounts, Zumigo's innovative technology for financial services institutions such as Wells Fargo can detect fraudulent transactions before they affect its customers." - Chirag Bakshi, founder and chief executive officer of Zumigo

People

Success can be all about
connecting with the right people

Investment Advisory Council

Steve Ellis

Steve Ellis

Executive Vice President & Head of the Wells Fargo Innovation Group

Vas Kodali

Vas Kodali

Executive Vice President & Head of the Tech Industry Partnership Development at Wells Fargo

Braden More

Braden More

Executive Vice President & Head of Partnerships and Industry Relations at Wells Fargo

Puon Penn

Puon Penn

Executive Vice President & Cohead of Wells Fargo Commercial Banking Service's Technology & Venture Banking Group

Bipin Sahni

Bipin Sahni

Executive Vice President & Head of Research and Development for the Wells Fargo Innovation Group

Program Managers

Kevin Bouey

Kevin Bouey

Senior Vice President & Investment Lead, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

Benjamin Brinkman

Benjamin Brinkman

Vice President & Business Lead, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

Chris Cherewan

Chris Cherewan

Vice President & Program Lead, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

Close

Steve Ellis

Executive Vice President & Head of the Wells Fargo Innovation Group

Steve Ellis

Steve Ellis is an executive vice president and head of the Wells Fargo Innovation Group, an enterprise-wide organization devoted to accelerating the company's delivery of next-generation, customer-inspired technologies, products, and services. Previously, Steve was head of the Wholesale Services Group, which included Treasury Management, Wholesale Banking Technology and Operations, Wholesale Social Strategies, Innovation and Research and Development, Wholesale Marketing, and the Enterprise Payment Strategies Group.

Vas Kodali

Executive Vice President & Head of the Tech Industry Partnership Development at Wells Fargo

Vas Kodali

Vas Kodali is an executive vice president and head of Tech Industry Partnership Development at Wells Fargo. Vas and his team drive relationships with industry leaders in information technology, universities, venture capital firms, private equity firms, and portfolio companies. His team works closely with technology bankers and executives to foster industry relationships, strengthen exposure to emerging technologies, and spur business development.

Braden More

Executive Vice President and Head of Partnerships and Industry Relations at Wells Fargo

Braden More

Braden More is an executive vice president and head of Enterprise Payment Strategy at Wells Fargo. Braden and his team work across all of Wells Fargo to coordinate payment strategy, launch new initiatives, and represent Wells Fargo in the payment industry.

Puon Penn

Executive Vice President and Cohead of Wells Fargo Commercial Banking Service's Technology and Venture Banking Group

Puon Penn

Puon Penn is an executive vice president & cohead of Wells Fargo Commercial Banking Service's Technology and Venture Banking Group. Puon and his team provide expertise, financial services, and resources to help innovative domestic and international companies focus on advancing new technologies and business models to solve some of the most complex problems facing humanity – global population growth, climate change and environmental impacts, and the ongoing fight against diseases.

Bipin Sahni

Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development for the Wells Fargo Innovation Group

Bipin Sahni

Bipin Sahni is an executive vice president and head of research and development for the Wells Fargo Innovation Group. Bipin and his team are focused on future technologies and defining the future vision for customer interactions, mobile solutions, and authentication solutions along with big data initiatives.

Close

Kevin Bouey

Senior Vice President & Investment Lead, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

Kevin Bouey

Kevin Bouey is a senior vice president and strategic planning manager in the Wells Fargo Innovation Group. Kevin focuses on enhancing payment strategy across Wells Fargo and investing time and funding to advance innovative startups through the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator.

Benjamin Brinkman

Vice President & Business Lead, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

Benjamin Brinkman

Benjamin Brinkman is a vice president and business lead for the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator. His responsibilities include program marketing, sponsorships, and external partnerships, as well as assisting selected startups in enhancing their visibility inside and outside of Wells Fargo.

Chris Cherewan

Vice President & Program Lead, Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator

Chris Cherewan

Chris Cherewan is a vice president and lead program manager for the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator. Chris's focus is on the delivery and evolution of the overall program. She is also responsible for ensuring the program provides value to the participating startups and to Wells Fargo's business lines.