BECU Fintech Incubator, Powered By CoMotion

CoMotion worked with BECU, Washington’s largest not-for-profit credit union, to support fintech startups for the last five years. The BECU FinTech Incubator program powered 18 companies that raised at least $142.5M, drawing on the institutions’ complementary resources and shared mission to drive innovation in the region and increase the financial well-being of the local community. While this program is no longer offered, BECU remains a valued partner of the UW community and will continue creating opportunities for students of all backgrounds, inspiring groundbreaking innovation, encouraging entrepreneurship and promoting lifelong learning.

In fall 2018, BECU, Washington’s largest community credit union, partnered with CoMotion to create a fintech hub in the Seattle region, which included the launch of the BECU FinTech Incubator powered by UW CoMotion. Housed in CoMotion Labs at Startup Hall, the collaboration combines BECU’s expertise in broad-based financial services, data analysis, and customer experiences with CoMotion’s strengths in incubation, partnership, innovation, company formation, and technology commercialization.

The technology strengths and resources of greater Seattle and the UW ecosystem make a powerful combination that is poised to build the next generation of financial services innovations. This focus on financial services innovation will benefit a large section of the community at a time when technology and disruption are simultaneously beneficial and potentially polarizing.

Located in CoMotion Labs technology incubator near UW’s campus, the BECU FinTech Incubator has been host to eighteen fintech startups since its inception. The incubator opened with fintech startups Noonum, an AI-powered investor business intelligence research platform, and Routable, a secure invoice and bill payment platform. Since then, Routable has raised $46M with its recent Series B funding of $30M, while Noonum was accepted into the EvoNexus Silicon Valley FinTech Incubator earlier this year, a significant achievement as only 5% of applicants are accepted.

Winners of the 2019 competition were Attunely, which uses machine learning to increase yield of the accounts receivable collection process, and Finclusive, a hybrid financial/regulatory technology company. The three winning teams in 2020 included identity verification startup Cozera, credit score app flub, and mobile payment app QUUE. The 2021 winners were Stack, which teaches teens how to responsibly invest in cryptocurrencies, Pay Your Tuition Funds, which provides innovative solutions for families to finance higher education, savings and rewards app Joola, and Bumper, an investment app aimed at Gen Z teenagers. In 2022, Asa, Honeycomb Credit, NetGiver, and Pocketnest were awarded membership and in 2023, winners were My Financial Therapist, Nickels, and Stakana.