Deadline to apply is April 15, 2022.

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 eleven 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. Last year’s 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.

Now, BECU and CoMotion are holding the fourth Fintech Incubator competition with the goal of identifying talent and promising technologies.

BECU is interested in a wide array of fintech startups with solutions that would support their members’ financial health, improve BECU’s data capture and analysis, and make their back-office processes more efficient. These include mobile payments, digital wallets, robo-investing, budgeting apps, and more. Any startup with a relevant solution is encouraged to apply. At present, BECU is most interested in the following fintech verticals:

• AI/Process automation
• Data analytics and machine learning
• Personalized platforms
• Payments and settlements
• Lending and crowdfunding platforms
• Digital lending

Other verticals of interest include:

• Wealth Management – investment and wealth management platforms and analytics tools.
• Robotic process automation (RPA) – process automation technology which utilizes software robots or digital workers to automate tasks which are usually performed by humans. The financial services industry has already implemented RPA to cut costs and improve overall organizational efficiencies.
• Open banking – brings both banks and fintech together by facilitating data networking across institutions. Open banking is related to the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

• January 4-April 15, 2022: Applications will be accepted
• End of April: Top applicants will be notified if they are invited to pitch
• Mid-May: Selected applicants will pitch to our team
• End of May: Applicants will be notified of the decision
• July 1, 2022: New cohort begins

See chart below for more detail about the benefits BECU FinTech Incubator members enjoy.

*Italicized items listed below will be active once in-person meetings resume.

• One-year membership to CoMotion Labs co-working space, including dedicated desks, access to conference rooms, and event space 
• Access to the University of Washington mentor database and mentors from BECU 
• Connections to other experts throughout BECU that are relevant to startup needs 
• Startups with a live product that matches BECU needs will have the opportunity to explore partnering on conducting user research or running a proof-of-concept 
• PitchBook access and membership
• Connections to UW faculty and ability to hire UW student interns or graduates
• Opportunity to participate in the annual Startup Career Fair and UW pitch event