Three financial technology startups headed to CoMotion Labs at Startup Hall this year
In an ongoing commitment to growing the local fintech community in partnership with UW CoMotion, BECU has selected this year’s winners of the BECU FinTech Incubator competition: My Financial Therapist, Nickels, and Stakana.
The startups receive a one-year membership to the CoMotion Labs tech incubator at UW’s Startup Hall, plus access to training, events, and BECU’s networks. The teams were chosen based on their innovative fintech solutions and alignment to BECU’s goals of improving member outcomes.
“BECU invests in partnerships, tools and resources that help individuals improve their financial well-being for the long-term. Our collaboration with CoMotion is a natural extension of this commitment,” said Mike Zell, BECU’s senior vice president of Digital. “We look forward to seeing each startup grow during the program and supporting their efforts to help foster innovation in the financial services industry.”
The partnership between CoMotion and BECU, Washington’s largest not-for-profit credit union, kicked off in October 2018 with the goal of attracting more fintech startups to the Cascadia region. The collaboration combines BECU’s expertise in broad-based financial services, data, and member experience with CoMotion’s strengths in innovation, company formation, and technology commercialization. Last year’s cohort included Asa, Honeycomb Credit, NetGiver, and Pocketnest.
My Financial Therapist
Dennis Williams, CEO
My Financial Therapist is designed to help individual users, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and enterprises meet their financial goals and improve financial literacy. Its services incorporate expert guidance, AI-driven insights, personalized roadmaps, and dynamic support tailored to each user’s needs.
Nickels
Joseph Gracia, CEO
Nickels applies concepts from behavioral health to its financial software, which aims to help consumers take control of their third-party credit card debt. Established in 2019 with a focus on student loan debt, the startup pivoted to partnering with banks on credit card debt during the pandemic’s freeze on federal student loan repayments.
Stakana
Nate Derby, CEO and chief data scientist
Stakana is a Seattle-based company providing actionable marketing analytics to credit unions and community banks to maximize marketing ROI. The startup’s tools use AI, machine learning, and other statistical strategies to segment audience bases, personalize marketing outreach, and identify customer attrition.
