YES Bank Invites Applications For Business Accelerator Programme YES FINTECH

YES Bank has announced the launch of a business accelerator programme – YES FINTECH (YFA) for fintech startups. The initiative is in association with T-Hub and Anthill Ventures, with LetsTalkPayments (LTP).

With the YES FINTECH platform, YES Bank aims to co-create innovative solutions and partner in taking the solution to the bank’s retail and corporate customers.

The focus areas will be payments, forex & treasury, capital markets, lending, trade finance, customer value added services, government risk & compliance, and enterprise software.

The experts connected with YFA are Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES Bank; Ajay Srivastava, Head Technology, OYO Rooms; Devie Mohan, Fintech Market Strategist; Aneesh Reddy, co-founder & CEO, Capillary Technologies; Vikram Sud, 91 Springboard; Sauvik Banerjjee, Global CTA, SAP; and Shailesh Lakhani, MD, Sequoia Capital.

What’s In It For Startups

It will be a 15-week programme structured in four phases with three weeks of on-site interventions and 11 weeks off-site interventions. Each stage will be focussed on creating a market-ready product and a sustainable business model.

The four stages are:

Co-Create: In this stage, the programme will focus on identifying the startup’s applicability to YES FINTECH’s focus areas and potential to scale. A customised scale up plan for each startup will then be formulated.

Operate: This stage will focus on product refinement, building a market-ready platform and customer acquisition & engagement strategies.

Scale: At this point, startups will be able to refine products based on customer feedback, design lean operating frameworks and more.

Invest and grow: The cohort will conclude with a Pitch Clinic and Demo Day which will provide the startups with an opportunity to connect with VCs, family offices, and other investor networks to raise funds for their growth plans.

As stated in the press release, there will be no upfront equity commitment from startups and will provide them access to YES BANK’s 2 Mn+ customer base. Also, the programme will allow the startups to continue working on their core business.

Earlier in September 2016, YES Bank launched a banking proposition for tech-enabled startups, called YES:Head-STARTUP. In December 2015, Yes Bank, in collaboration with software product think-tank iSPIRT, launched a fintech app store for Indian startups in the financial technology space. Following that, in April 2016, it signed a MoU with T-Hub, a technology incubator set up by the Telangana government, to set up a centre of excellence for startups in fintech space. Under the agreement, the association will help create a conducive business environment and support system for a large number of fintech startups.

Along the same lines in January 2016, SBI launched InCube – its first exclusive startup bank branch in Bangalore. Through ‘SBI InCube’, the bank will provide help, guidance, and counselling to the entrepreneurs in starting a new company or business enterprise. Similarly, HDFC also recently launched SmartUp – a dedicated banking solution for startups.

In August 2016, Kotak Mahindra Bank launched an ‘Innovation Lab’ in Bengaluru. This initiative targeted startups under the fintech sector and will also be open to invest in startups. Prior to that, Kotak Mahindra Bank partnered with NASSCOM’s Startup Warehouse where it provides services to entrepreneurs and startups under the NASSCOM 10,000 Startup Programme.

The application process for YES FINTECH closes on February 3, 2017. The cohort will be launched on March 13, 2017 while the Demo day will be a two day event, to be held on June 21-22, 2017.

Interested startups can apply for the program here.