BMW Financial Services is creating a 10-week fintech accelerator in its Hilliard, Ohio, regional service center, which will enable startups to trial their products at scale, network with industry experts, and potentially partner with the captive.
Five startups will be chosen, one for each of the following categories: digitizing the customer journey, data analytics and insights, building a blockchain strategy, lease returns and lifecycle management, and a “wildcard” category for proposals that do not fit into the designated themes.
“By working collaboratively with talented entrepreneurial companies, we will drive new thinking, explore new technologies, and develop pioneering solutions,” Ian Smith, chief executive of BMW Group Financial Services USA for the Americas, said in a statement to Auto Finance News. “We will ensure that we continue to remain highly relevant and meaningful for our customers well into the future.”
The application process for the BMW Financial Services Collaboration Lab kicked off May 8 and will run through June 17. Finalists will pitch their startups to BMW’s senior leadership team on July 24, and the accelerator program will start Sept. 3. BMW Group UK held a similar program in 2016, and four of the five incubated startups succeeded in building ongoing relationships with the company’s commercial unit.
