Nordea Pushes Blockchain Concepts with New Startup Accelerator Programme kicking off on September 12, 2016

0
1833
default

Scandinavian Bank Nordea’s Oslo office will welcome 35 startups to help them develop their Fintech ideas coming up in a few weeks where the best projects will be selected to take part in Nordea’s Accelerator programme, which kicks off later on in the autumn in Stockholm and Helsinki. 

In total, over 200 companies applied to Nordea Startup Accelerator, which is an intensive 12-week programme providing selected startups with the opportunity to develop their ideas alongside Nordea and some of the best fintech experts in the Nordics. The 35 selected startups come from countries including the US, Russia, Singapore, India, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. 

“It’s fantastic to see such great interest, and I’m impressed with the breadth of the applicant startups, both in terms of their ideas, and where in the world they come from,” comments Jan Sirich, Head of Experimentation & Learning at Nordea.

This is the second time that Nordea is arranging the Accelerator programme, which is the largest of its kind in the Nordics. After the startup week in Oslo, around 20 teams will be selected for further participation in Nordea Accelerator. The startups will work onsite at Nordea’s offices in Stockholm or Helsinki.  

“The programme helps us identify new, innovative opportunities. We are continuously working hard on developing great digital services for our customers, and rely on acquiring expertise and creativity, from outside the organisation too. This time, Nordea Startup Accelerator is focusing on ideas in new technology such as cognitive computing, , artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. But, we are also interested in other areas, where new technology can help us offer better services to our customers,” continues Jan Sirich, Head of Experimentation & Learning at Nordea.

Nordea arranged the first Accelerator programme in the winter of 2015–2016. The startups received over EUR 600,000 in new financing, and Nordea has continued to work with two of them (Jenny and Feelingstream).