PKO Bank Polski supports 2nd edition of the acceleration program for start-ups and launches FinTech path

2016.10.03

PKO Bank Polski once again joined the accelerator program for start-ups, carried out together with MIT Enterprise Forum Poland. In the 2nd edition, PKO Bank Polski is the patron of the "Let's FinTech with PKO Bank Polski" path, dedicated to start-ups and focused on financial solutions for payments, mobile banking, web security and investments. The bank strongly supports increasing innovation in the Polish economy.

PKO Bank Polski has once again joined the accelerator program for start-ups carrie dout with MIT Enterprise Forum Poland.
In the 2nd edition of the program, PKO Bank Polski is running the path Let’s Fintech with PKO Bank Polski!”, dedicated to start-ups developing financial solutions for payments, mobile and internet banking, security and investments.
The bank offers broad suport for raising the level of innovation in the Polish economy.

– The Polish economy currently has an opportunity to join the global technology revolution. To take full advantage of those opportunities, we need an efficient infrastructure to facilitate the emergence and implementation of the best innovative ideas. Therefore, PKO Bank Polski is actively engaged in initiatives that support the development of Polish start-ups – said Zbigniew Jagiełło, president of PKO Bank Polski.

The acceleration program will help the most interesting ideas to emerge
The accelerator program implemented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enterprise Forum, with the support of PKO Bank Polski has been created to expose and support the most interesting technology start-ups. One of the primary goals of the project is to facilitate the effective commercialisation of new technologies. Taking part in the program gives participants the opportunity to benefit from the support of an international team of mentors and experienced experts, cooperation with MIT Technology Review, and networking in the vast innovation ecosystem centered around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Recruitment for the program will begin on October 1 and will last until November 30. Both existing young Polish companies from the technology sector, as well as the teams that only have an idea for a new business, may apply to take part in the program. A jury of international investors and mentors will select the top 25 start-ups. The first stage of the acceleration will be held in Warsaw, in which a series of workshops and training sessions to help participants create and develop their start-up business model will be held. All meetings will be led by eminent mentors and experts, both domestic and foreign. In the second stage, the acceleration will be attended by the top 5 teams and will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

Winners of the 1st edition of the program
As a result of the 1st edition, the top five teams in June went to the United States for the final stage of the acceleration, held at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The trip to MIT allowed the specially chosen start-ups to acquire new knowledge and experiences as well as contacts with American scientists and companies interested in the technology they are developing.

The winners of the first edition were: Poltreg, Poltiss, Scubaphone, XTPL and Hussartech. The Poltreg team has developed a new treatment for type 1 diabetes. Poltiss has developed a technology for modern injectable polymeric biomaterials for medical use in the reconstruction and regeneration of soft tissues. Scubaphone is an idea for a cheap underwater communicator for scuba divers. XTPL has created a transparent and conductive electric voltage foil that improves the quality of LCD displays while reducing energy consumption. And Hussartech has developed and patented antibacterial nanoparticles (HybriCaps), which can be used in sectors such as medicine and the clothing sector.

PKO Bank Polski widely supports innovations
In late August, the bank became the main patron of “Start-up Weekend Warsaw” where the main topic was FinTech. The most interesting solution prepared by start-ups during this event was an application that allows personalised communication between a client bank and a chatbot. With this solution, the customer can use short text messages to ask about their account status and available products. The bank also co-organised the D-RAFT Corporate Demo Day "FinTech & Mobile", during which big business and young entrepreneurs could each draw from each other’s experience. Also last year, PKO Bank Polski, along with the Technical University of Gdansk, started work on a comprehensive biometric solution. The end result of this collaboration will be a system for identifying and authenticating customers on the basis of biometric data, without the need for passwords, pin codes or identity documents, in the daily use of banking services.

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PKO Bank Polski is the unparalleled leader of the Polish banking sector. In 2015, the PKO Bank Polski Group posted a consolidated net profit of PLN 2.61 billion and reported a balance sheet total of PLN 266.9 billion. In the last 5 years, the assets of the PKO Bank Polski Group have increased by PLN 100 billion, both through organic growth and the merger with Nordea Bank Polska considered to be one of the best executed mergers on the market. With the effective implementation of its growth strategy, PKO Bank Polski is the highest ranking domestic company in the most recent Forbes Global 2000 ranking of the world’s biggest public companies. It is the most valuable brand on the domestic financial market, priced at PLN 3.6 billion by the daily Rzeczpospolita. The Bank has the market’s biggest award-winning offer of services. It is the main provider of financial services for all customer segments with the biggest market share in loans (17.5%) and deposits (16.8%). It is a leader of services for local governments with a market share in loans at 20% and a market share in municipal bonds at over 40%. With its continuously improved quality of customer service, the Bank regularly ranks #1 in banking call centre rankings of ARC Rynek i Opinia. PKO Bank Polski was named the Bank of the Year in Poland in 2014 by The Banker magazine owned by the Financial Times. The Bank was also awarded in the Efma Distribution&Marketing Innovation in Retail Financial Services ranking for the transformation of the mobile application IKO into the mobile payment standard BLIK as the best innovation in payments.