According to a report by Finextra, DBS Bank has launched the much anticipated three-month startup accelerator program which will witness participation from the world’s most innovative fintech startups vying up for further investment from the bank.
The program named ‘The Vault’ will take place in a 5000 square foot workspace in Hong Kong with an aim to spring up Hong Kong as the world’s leading fintech hub. Singapore’s leading bank first announced its intentions of starting a startup accelerator in April with support from local innovation incubator Nest.
The three-month program will end in November with DBS and Nest Demo Days and a Public Investor Demo Day, where successful ideas will be selected for further investment. During the course of this program, participants will be guided through their business growth and development with the help of mentoring from DBS and Nest senior executives as well as other partners.
Commenting on the launch, DBS Bank (Hong Kong) CEO Sebastian Paredes said: “DBS Hong Kong is a pioneer in leveraging digital and mobile technologies in our financial products and services. The DBS Accelerator programme aims to nurture a new generation of digital leaders and talent to secure Hong Kong’s future as a world-class FinTech hub.”
In 2014, DBS expressed its intentions of investing $200 million over three years to tap the full potential of digital technologies, on top of a $1 billion spend on further technology initiatives.
All eyes are now set on Bitcoin!
Bitcoin startup Safello outperformed in a similar startup accelerator program hosted by financial giant Barclays. As the Barclays Accelerator concluded, Safello and Barclays announced that they will work together on creating a Bitcoin platform. Their collaboration will bring for the first time a leading bank and a Bitcoin startup together on a Bitcoin-focused project.
Barclays’ next program will commence from July and end in October.
So, will DBS accelerator program churn out another such partnership? Will the world’s most disruptive technology make yet another alliance with a financial giant via the DBS initiative? We will just have to wait till November to find out
