INV Fintech, the sister accelerator to Bank Innovation, announced a partnership today with the Berlin-based Open Bank Project to provide sandbox and development services to the startup and its 13 partner companies.
The sandbox will offer startups in the INV Fintech accelerator a secure digital space to access and incorporate bank data into their applications. The startups can use an Open Bank Project sandbox to simulate bank integrations — and INV bank partners can demo those integrations.
The Open Bank Project is an open-source provider of APIs and app stores for banks. It hosts hackathons with banks across the globe.
“Data is crucial for startups,” said JJ Hornblass, principal of INV Fintech. “Startups need access to data to prove their solutions, and they need to present data to investors in order to receive funding. The sandbox we are offering in conjunction with the Open Bank Project will give our startups a boost in both product development and business development.”
More than 130 standardized APIs are being made available to INV startups by Open Bank Project.
“An industry sandbox offers a unique environment to bring fintech and banks together to accelerate collaboration and dissemination of knowledge,” said Ismail Chaib, COO of TESOBE, which runs the Open Banking Project. “We are thrilled to be working with INV to create that environment, and are happy to reaffirm our commitment to supporting fintech ecosystems around the world.”
INV Fintech is currently in its Class 5 of startups and is accepting applications for Class 6. It counts Fiserv, U.S. Bank and TIAA among its partners.