Arguably the largest financial center of the world, New York is also one of the most important hubs for Fintech innovation. Many bulge-bracket banks worldwide are faced with upgrading their technology to keep up with regulatory requirements as well as changing consumer trends such as rising mobile usage. Working with startups and financial firms to assist the growth of fintech in New York is Valuestream Labs, an Accelerator program and advisor.
Valuestream has announced that they are expanding their accelerator program to provide more funding and to accept more companies. Greg Neufeld, Managing Partner and Founder of Valuestream Labs, explained to Finance Magnates that in the past the company had been providing funding on a case by base decision, but will begin to provide between $100,000 and $1.5 million in investments to firms that are accepted into the accelerator. Neufeld explained that they believe it is important to offer the flexibility to offer up to $1.5 million which is larger than a typical accelerator investment. “Most accelerators offer around a $100K," Neufeld said. "But we believe that it requires more capital to help companies reach break away success”. Looking ahead, Neufeld stated that Valuestream's goal is to add 6 to 9 companies to the accelerator program over the next twelve months.
Differentiating themselves, Valuestream doesn't operate a class system: new firms are accepted and participate in the program independently of each other. In terms of why they use this format, Neufeld explained that “Finance is built upon large interconnected networks, we believe our portfolio of companies should be the same. When we add a new company, we are aiming to strengthen the network effects of our companies, and help them built a defensibility around their business. To us the "network" approach makes more sense than the "class" structure.”
