Nate Derby, CEO of Stakana. (CoMotion Photos)
The BECU Fintech Incubator named three companies that won its fifth annual competition, including two from the Seattle region.
The contest aims to attract more fintech startups to the Pacific Northwest region, part of a collaboration that combines the expertise of BECU, Washington’s largest not-for-profit credit union, and CoMotion, the innovation arm of the University of Washington. The partnership launched in 2018 and has hosted 15 startups since its creation.
Participating companies get a one-year membership to CoMotion’s Labs tech incubator at UW’s Startup Hall. They also gain access to training, events, and BECU’s networks.
Last year, four startups outside the Pacific Northwest won the competition. Previous winners based in the Seattle region include Stack, Routable, Attunely, and others.
Here’s more info about the winning startups:
- My Financial Therapist, based in Seattle, is developing an AI-powered app that creates personalized roadmaps and insights to help individuals, nonprofits, higher education institutions, and enterprises “meet their financial goals and improve financial literacy.” The startup is led by founder and CEO Dennis Williams.
- Nickels, based in Michigan, sells its white-labeled financial software to banks and credit unions, helping their customers manage third-party credit card debt through monthly spending reports that analyze costs. It’s similar to a home energy report from a utilities company but applied to credit card purchases. The startup is led by founder and CEO Joseph Gracia.
- Stakana, based in Seattle, is developing AI-powered analytics tools to help credit unions and community banks segment audience bases, personalize outreach, and identify customer attrition. The startup’s CEO and chief data scientist is Nate Derby.
