The Chicago-based Center for Financial Services Innovation announced Monday the creation of a competition for startup companies working to address financial challenges for underserved consumers.
The first competition of the nonprofit center’s new Financial Solutions Lab will take place this year and will award at least $250,000 to each of as many as 10 winning companies, organizers said. Founding partner J.P. Morgan Chase announced last year a commitment of $30 million over five years to the lab.
The competition will accept entries through April 7, and a team of industry experts will review them. Winners will be announced June 11.
Janis Bowdler, JPMorgan’s senior program director of global philanthropy, said the competition represents an effort “to support socially minded entrepreneurs that are developing solutions that will help the underserved.” She said the competition also provides a way to crowd-source ideas “to see what the latest in technology and science might allow for in this space.”
Participants will focus on helping people manage cash flow, and organizers seek early stage companies that have a product they’re already selling, said Sarah Gordon, VP for innovation labs at CFSI.
“They have to be past the idea stage,” she said.
In addition to prize money, winners will get networking, mentorship and professional consulting services from an advisory board stocked with industry leaders, Gordon said.
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On Tuesday, the CFSI announced the formation of an advisory council made up of industry leaders for the Financial Solutions Lab.