BBVA Bancomer formalizes its commercial alliance with the 500 Startups accelerator. The bank will sponsor the next generation of entrepreneurs of the program, who will receive mentoring in topics such as marketing or big data and advice on product development. The fintech will also have the possibility of carrying out pilot tests with the bank, according to the needs of the financial institution, said Carlos López-Moctezuma, director of Strategy for Retail Banking and New Digital Businesses of the company.
“Our process for making pilots with start-ups is well structured,” said the executive. First they identify the needs of the different areas of the bank about the type of product they require and the channels to promote it. The second step is to launch a call through its Fast Track program with specific themes such as marketing, fraud prevention or data analysis. The third step is to make a presentation to managers to make a selection. The pilot tests last six months.
Under this scheme, the bank has made acquisitions of start-ups. One of them was the Mexican fintech Openpay, a processor of payment services for companies. “The pilots will be after the acceleration process, so as not to suffocate the companies with tests of up to 200,000 clients, which for us may be few, but for them it could be complex,” said López-Moctezuma.
This alliance is the first of its kind carried out by the US accelerator, said Santiago Zavala, 500 Startups partner. Both agencies had collaborated in different initiatives, so they decided to formalize their joint work, explained the investor.
The accelerator has opened the call for its tenth generation of start-ups, in each one it will invest 60,000 dollars. This may involve companies from Latin America that use technology in their products or services and that their models are scalable. The call closes on February 3 and the program starts on April 1, says Zavala.
Also published on Medium.