Got an idea to help improve the financial lives of the unbanked and underbanked? FinCapDev wants to hear from you.
The mobile app development competition hosted by the D2D Fund and the Center for Financial Services Innovation is accepting proposals for its 2014 event. The deadline is April 7.
And to better help inform the fintech community about FinCapDev, they are hosting the first of a series of free webinars Wednesday at 6pm Eastern.
Now in its second year, FinCapDev was founded with the goal of promoting what Shaheen Hasan, Innovation Strategist at the D2D Fund, calls “hacking for social good.”
“FinCapDev is hoping to create an ecosystem of players in all sectors to help move the needle to create better products and services for the unbanked and underbanked,” she said. “Especially using the mobile channel.”
Proposals for the 2014 competition will be evaluated based on degree of innovation, potential positive impact on American consumers, feasibility to build, and sustainability. Finalists will be announced in May.
Teams can receive up to $7,500 per app for development, and participate in webinars and mentorships on topics such as mobile technology, app development and product engineering, and will have selected access to APIs and data sets. Participants that make it through the app development stage will be eligible to win a $50,000 cash grand prize (or one of two runners’ up cash awards of $25,000).
After that? As a nonprofit, FinCapDev does not take an equity stake in the startups that participate in the program. “We are pre-incubators,” explained Shaheen, “helping transform ideas into apps, and facilitating relationships with investors, angels, accelerators, and incubators.”
For a list of the alums from FinCapDev 2013. click here. Our coverage of the winner, BetterHaves is here.