Barclays launches Accelerator in India

Barclays has announced the 10 fintech companies that will form the first cohort of its Accelerator programme in India.

The successful candidates – unveiled during a launch event at Barclays Rise hub in Mumbai – fought off competition from more than 260 applicants.

Those who made it onto the final list include Bangalore-based Crediwatch, which offers ‘amplified intelligence’ for businesses, and Delhi’s Neuron, which specialises in machine-learning. In addition to these, Barclays has also put its own internal team into the Accelerator programme to encourage ‘Intrapreneurship’ among its colleagues.

During the 18-week Accelerator, which connects fintech communities across India, the selected start-ups will work closely with Barclays’ stakeholders, onsite advisers and mentors to drive their businesses forward.

The programme is being run in conjunction with Zone Startups India and will be based at the recently opened Rise Mumbai site – a host venue for the recent ‘Rise Hackathon’ and one of seven international hubs that Barclays has launched to provide a space for fintech companies to develop their initiatives.

Participants will benefit from ‘mentor hours’ in which they receive interactive one-on-one sessions with experts. They will also have the chance to present their business strategy to investors and industry experts at the Rise Accelerator Day in January 2017.

In the run-up to the competition, Barclays held roadshows across six cities in India and hosted a number of international webinars to attract entries. There were more than 260 applications, including a number of international candidates. During these road shows Rise Mumbai continued to expand its presence in the fintech community. Rise Mumbai aims to be the best fintech community in India and to serve as the launchpad for Indian start-ups to go global – and for global start-ups to come to India.

Himanshu Warudkar, Head of CFT, IB Technology, BTCI and Programme Director – Rise Mumbai, Barclays Technology Centre India, said: “The Accelerator is a very important component of the overall Rise programme and we are very excited at the opportunities this will open up for the start-up community. Barclays and Zone Startups will work together in bringing about fintech disruption and building best-in-class products and services.”

The start-ups that made it onto the programme represent some of the most promising fintech pioneers across India:

• Customer XPS (Bangalore)
• Fund Expert (Bangalore)
• CrediWatch (Bangalore)
• MegDap (Bangalore)
• RockMetric (Mumbai)
• Arrow AI (Mumbai)
• Capital Quant Solutions (Delhi)
• Neuron (Delhi)
• FixNix (Chennai)
• Anlytiqed (Hyderabad)