KANSAS CITY—It looks like we now know who the “undisclosed banking institution” was from EyeVerify’s $6 million round in July. Wells Fargo announced Wednesday that the Kansas City-based startup will be part of its inaugural six-month accelerator class for companies looking to pioneer financial services technology.
“We were already working with them when they came up with it,” EyeVerify CEO Toby Rush told SPN. “This is much more about partnering with companies than what you think of as a typical accelerator.”
The first class opens with three teams, selected without an application process, and teams will receive between $50,000 and $500,000 for participating—under a non-exclusive agreement. The goal is to provide mentorship so that one day the companies can serve as vendors. The banking industry can be a challenge to understand and plan for as a young company, and Wells Fargo wants to help them through the security and regulation issues that can be hard to plan for. Locating at the Wells Fargo office in San Francisco is not required.
“We’re not leaving Kansas City,” Rush said. “We had a lot of offers that would have taken us elsewhere. We feel like we can build a world-class startup here. Leveraging the deep roots we have make sense.
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“This is huge validation validation from one of the biggest banks in the world.”
The Kansas City-based biometrics startup wants to get rid of the password by using eye print technology through smartphone cameras. The money helps close a Series A round that also involves Sprint, Samsung and Qihoo 360 from China.
