Overview of the banking innovation labs in Silicon Valley

1. Banking Innovation in
Silicon Valley

2. San Francisco
design thinking
San Francisco
startup scouting
Banking Innovation in Silicon Valley
Capital One Labs
The focus has been put on gaining a deeper understanding of customers and getting
them to actively take part in the process of developing new products. So far, their most
interesting work has been the Banking API and the acquisition of Level Money. In
addition, they recently bought a San Francisco based design and user experience
consultancy, Adaptive Path.
Managing Director: James Patterson - Size: 100 employees, 250 employees by end of
2015 - Founded: 2010
SC Studios
SC Studios has become Standard Chartered interface with Silicon Valley's community of
technology innovators and venture capitalists. The facility identifies and develops ideas
that could be useful to the bank. The Studios used to do a lot of prototyping but is now
focusing mostly on startup scouting. Prototyping has been outsourced to another
location where resources are more affordable.
Managing Director: Todd Shofield - Size: 4 employees - Founded: 2010
startup partnerships
prototyping

3. San Francisco
Palo Alto
financial Inclusion
Banking Innovation in Silicon Valley
Visa Lab
The lab focus on partnerships and developing products with merchants, manufactures,
app developers, and innovators.
“Our responsibility in the lab is to be an omnichannel and to really be able to initiate or
simulate any transaction [and] bring them all back to the same common place, which is
how we process, how we communicate, how we secure and manage the transaction
itself.”
Managing Director: Matt Dill - Size: 30 employees - Founded: 2014
The Financial Innovation Lab
The goal of the lab is to give researchers focused on financial inclusion, counselors who
work with the underserved, and technologists an opportunity to work together to test
and validate solutions to critical problems in the areas of savings and credit building.
Managing Director: unknown - Size: unknown - Founded: 2014
digital commerce
partnerships
prototyping

4. San Francisco
San Francisco
startup accelerator
Banking Innovation in Silicon Valley
Axa Lab
AXA Lab aims at connecting AXA with Silicon Valley’s tech players, detect latest trends,
develop the Group’s digital culture and initiate pilot projects.
Managing Director: Guillaume Cabrère - Size: 4 employees - Founded: 2014
Wells Fargo Labs
In 2014, Wells Fargo launched a financial technology accelerator program that
combines a cash investment (50 to 500K) for a minority stake with six months of
coaching and collaboration. They are focusing on startups that create solutions for
financial institutions and enterprise customers.
In addition, the bank is prototyping products available on a “come out and play” public
platform.
Managing Director: Bipin Sahni - Size: unknown - Founded: 2014
education
partnerships
investments

5. Banking Innovation in Silicon Valley
San Francisco
San Francisco
technology scouting
Intuit Labs
The lab is a tool to educate and empower employees about innovation. Intuit Labs has
developed an innovation framework to foster creative thinking within the company. The
team supports new ideas with brainstorming, prototyping and customer feedback.
Managing Director: Hugh Molotsi - Size: 12 employees - Founded: unknown
education
prototyping
Santander
The primary focus is on identifying new business and technological trends affecting
global financial institutions and the broader financial services industry. The innovation
team helps build ventures and alliances with start-ups, third party solution providers, VC
firms, thought leaders and key forums in the fintech space.
Managing Director: Bradley Leimer - Size: 1 employee - Founded: 2014
startup scouting
partnerships

6. Palo Alto
San Francisco
VC
Banking Innovation in Silicon Valley
Citi Ventures
Citi Ventures is Citi's global corporate venturing arm, chartered to collaborate with
internal and external partners to conceive, partner, launch, and scale new ventures that
have the potential to disrupt and transform the financial services industry, drive client
success, and generate new value for Citi.
Managing Director: Debbie Brackeen - Size: 13 employees - Founded: unknown
BBVA Ventures
Our mission at BBVA Ventures is to look for strategic opportunities that can support the
bank’s innovation agenda. We are naturally interested in financial technologies, like
mobile payment or alternative lending, as well as some adjacent areas, such as big data
or ecommerce.
Major investments: Coinbase, Simple, Personal Capital
Managing Director: Thomas Whiteaker - Size: 5 employees - Founded: 2011
investment
partnerships

7. Palo Alto
Banking Innovation in Silicon Valley
Plug and Play FinTech Accelerator
Plug and Play FinTech was founded in an effort to optimize the current transformation
of financial services by empowering entrepreneurs through a process of introductions,
mentorship and exclusive access to experienced investors and innovators.
Main partners: Citi Ventures, USAA, Capital One.
Managing Director: Scott Robinson - Size: unknown - Founded: 2015
startup accelerator
American Express Ventures
As the strategic investment group within American Express, we seek to invest in
innovative startups in order to enhance our company's core capabilities and accelerate
our efforts in digital commerce and financial inclusion. Across the globe, we strive to
foster meaningful relationships with startups in our portfolio and beyond.
Focus: Digital Commerce; Financial Inclusion, Core Capabilities
Managing Director: Harshul Sanghi - Size: 4 employees - Founded: 2011
investment
Palo Alto

8. Palo Alto
Banking Innovation in Silicon Valley
Innovation Center
The opening of the facility is part of the company's plans to use emerging and disruptive
technologies such as Cloud Computing, Big Data and the Internet of Things to gain new
business insights, develop inventive, operational and technological capabilities, and
identify potential new ventures that anticipate and cater to emerging client needs.
Managing Director: Michael Gardner - Size: unknown - Founded: 2014
prototyping
partnerships
technology scouting

9. Next steps
Want to know more?
Cyril Dorsaz - Head of Innovation, swissnex San Francisco
email: cyril@swissnexsf.org
cell: + 1 206 327 3776
Get in touch