Mobile payment, credit building and digital identify verification startups round out the next three members of the incubator
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. The startups include Cozera, flub, and QUUE and will be located in CoMotion Labs at UW’s Startup Hall.
The partnership kicked off in October 2018 with the goal of attracting more fintech startups to the region. The incubator launched last year with fintech startups Attunely, Fincluziv, Routable (formerly Warren), and Noonum. This mission continues with a second group of startups who will also be located in the incubator for one year, during which time they receive sponsored CoMotion memberships that include access to training, events and mentorship as well as access to BECU and their networks. The three winning teams were chosen based on their innovative fintech solutions and BECU’s business goals.
The virtual kickoff event was held in mid-July and was led by François Baneyx, Director of CoMotion and UW Vice Provost for Innovation, and Doug Marshall, EVP and Chief Digital & Product Officer, BECU. The CEOs of the three startups also participated: Cozera CEO Abrar Ahmed, flub CEO Brandon Mann, and QUUE CEO Jean K. Kim.
“BECU is focused on offering solutions for our members that are relevant and support our purpose of improving their financial well-being for the long-term,” said Marshall. “CoMotion and these inspiring startups are driving innovation for our industry within the Pacific Northwest and we couldn’t be more pleased to be working with them to help transform financial services.” The three new startups focus on different aspects of fintech. Cozera verifies digital identities, flub helps people build their credit score, and QUUE is a mobile payment solution. Learn more about the newest members below.
- Cozera creates verified digital identities for remote and in-person identity verification to increase customer satisfaction, deter identity fraud, and save time and money. They address inadequacies with existing identity verification methods by balancing simple user experience and ensuring privacy and security. The Cozera Identity Service employs cryptography, cloud computing, biometrics, identity document validation, and distributed ledger technology to offer a secure, verified identity called a COZI™ on mobile phones. COZI is a digital credential verified by trusted parties that is privacy preserving, and offers superior security compared to knowledge-based questions, one-time codes and notifications provided by current identity verification solutions. The Cozera Identity Service is offered as an integrated mobile app and via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and Software Development Kits (SDKs) for integration into existing applications.
- flub is the smartest credit building service for those credit flub-ups. This means without the use of credit cards, or racking up debt in order to build your credit. In fact, they help people build their score by creating savings goals and paying them each month. Flub doesn’t care about what happened in the past and they don’t check your score to determine if you can use their service; everyone is included. Their products are designed to help people build their credit score, save money, and become financially savvy.
- QUUE is a mobile payment application fostering the U.S.’s transition from a card base to fully mobile payment culture. QUUE is strategically targeting college campuses to expand while utilizing Automated Clearing House (ACH) for lower per-transaction cost. They have been operational in the University District around the University of Washington and are now accepted in about 20 retail locations. CEO Jean K. Kim and CTO Ryan Chu are both current students at the University of Washington.
Learn more about CoMotion Labs.