Three partners for an ambitious project
BNP Paribas has teamed up with Plug and Play, an innovation platform present in 22 countries, to create an accelerator dedicated to FinTechs and InsurTechs. Located within Station F, this new Parisian incubator is set to open its doors in early July and promises to be the biggest in the world: its campus will host up to 1,000 startups!
This new alliance of three key actors will offer all the requisite resources to give startups their best shot at success:
- Through its sheer size and concentration of so many startups in one place, Station F promises a huge potential for creating synergies. It will also provide many services to support the budding companies.
- In addition to its expertise and experience, Plug and Play will help the accelerator maintain strong ties with Silicon Valley.
- As a reliable partner to startups, with its own strong innovation culture, BNP Paribas will lend its banking expertise to the InsurTechs and FinTechs.
BNP Paribas and digital innovation: A history of success
The new partnership confirms BNP Paribas’s commitment to innovation, a central part of the company’s strategy for many years. The Group has made a deliberate choice to support FinTechs and InsurTechs in particular. It will leverage collective intelligence and organize various systems for selecting startups over time:
- Hackathons to detect innovative ideas and develop them further.
- Incubators and acceleration programs, with L’Atelier BNP Paribas accelerator, the WAI Boost program to pair companies and startups, and the WAI (We Are Innovation) work and support spaces.
- Actions to connect companies and startups, with WAI Boost , as well as Open Innovation Lab, which brings together startups and major corporations to help them co-design new products and digital services.
- Continuous operational support to help each startup refine their project, confront it with banking realities, and bring it to fruition.
- Open Up (unavailable link), a platform for connecting the group’s teams with startups around the world to help them build ties through a dedicated app and website.
The new accelerator enables BNP Paribas to take a large step forward in its commitment in favor of digital innovation.
Learn more about
Station F
Startup campus and meeting ground / Opening in July 2017 in Paris
34,000 m² - An auditorium - Thousands of workstations - A fablab - Several incubators (in addition to the BNP Paribas and Plug and Play incubator, the campus will host incubation programs run by HEC, Facebook, etc.) - Social spaces (restaurants, etc.).
Plug and Play
Global startup accelerator supporting hundreds of young companies and investing in dozens of startups.
Created in 2006 - Supports startups in 24 countries - Partner of the BNP Paribas Group in the United States (through its subsidiary Bank of the West) - More than $3.5 billion in startup financing thanks to its support - Numerous success stories (Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, Zoosk, etc.).