Dublin startup ID-Pal is one of ten startups chosen to participate in a new not-for-profit accelerator in the US. It was one of only three European companies selected for FinTech71, which will be run by business leaders in Ohio.
Perks for the accelerator’s participants include a stipend of $100,000 for an equity stake and six months of free office space in downtown Columbus.
ID-Pal offers a secure platform for businesses to verify the identity of clients in order to comply with international anti-money laundering regulations.
Customers upload their identity documents and information via a mobile app, while a web portal allows the business to run a suite of technical and manual checks on the identity documentation to check for forgery and tampering. Customer due diligence reports are then generated and securely stored on the cloud.
ID-Pal was founded in 2016 and its principals are James O’Toole, Colum Lyons, Paddy McClafferty, Shelley Maasdorp and Rob O’Farrell. The company has already secured €50,000 in Enterprise Ireland Competitive Start funding.
In Association with
Corporate supporters for FinTech71 include Accenture, JP Morgan Chase and Visa. The ten-week programme is designed to accelerate access to top financial services companies and expand the innovation pipeline for private-sector stakeholders.
“We are thrilled about the quality and diversity of this inaugural cohort,” said Matt Armstead, executive director for Fintech71. “In fact, half of the teams are international and represent specialties ranging from blockchain to personal finance.
“We believe our ten-week programme will provide an ideal springboard for these companies to graduate from emerging startups to scalable businesses, especially with access to many Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 partners across Ohio.”
Each startup was required to have at least one fintech product or solution prototype in the market and a minimum of two team members attend the full programme in person. The cohort will start the accelerator on the week beginning September 18.
