Female Innovators Lab

What is the Female Innovators Lab?
The Female Innovators Lab by Barclays and Anthemis is a New York City-based studio dedicated to cultivating entrepreneurial talent in women from all sides of the financial services ecosystem and its adjacencies. The Lab’s mission is to identify female founders at the earliest stage of their journey, provide them with an initial investment and match them with the resources and mentorship required to bring a business concept to market.

How is it different from accelerators and incubators?
The Lab is a studio, not an accelerator or incubator. Our focus is at the earliest stage of venture building. The Lab welcomes teams or solo entrepreneurs before they have brought a business to market. There is also no cohort cycle associated with the Lab.

Where is the Lab based?
Anthemis will house the entrepreneurs in its studio in SoHo, NYC, until they are ready to move into Barclays’ Rise New York FinTech workspace in Flatiron, NYC.

Why should founders participate in this programme?
Founders should join the Lab for the dedicated resources, mentoring, networking, and initial investment opportunities available to participants.

How much money will founders get from participating in the programme?

The Lab will make an upfront investment in companies selected for the programme. Follow-on capital may be available to support the business as it approaches its next fundraising round. The amount of any investment will vary founder by founder, business by business.

What kind of support will the founders receive? 
Entrepreneurs who join the Lab will receive human, intellectual and financial resources, backed by an extensive network of advisors and experts from Anthemis, as well as access to Barclays’ teams and expertise. Additionally, entrepreneurs will receive mentoring, which will be focused on helping founders fully develop their concept and refine it in advance of pursuing additional funding.

How many founders will the Lab be backing?
There is no hard limit on how many founders will be accepted for the studio. We will evaluate candidates on a person-by-person basis.

What kind of founder are you looking for?
There is no one-size-fits all when it comes to identifying successful founders, in terms of age, education, or work experience. We expect to invite founders into the Lab who have worked at, or potentially founded, startups, as well as those who have had more traditional careers and are embarking on their first solo venture. What matters to us is finding people who have an idea they’d like to pursue and are ready to put dedicated time and energy toward that passion.

Do you have to be a woman to apply?
The Lab is designed to bring more women into entrepreneurship. Our definition of “woman” is the broadest possible and includes any female-identifying, non-binary, and genderqueer founders.

Will the Lab help to match co-founders?
Yes. A big part of early stage company creation is finding the right founding team for an idea. Anthemis and Barclays have deep networks inside the FinTech ecosystem and will help match founders with each other. While the lead founder of the company must be a woman, we encourage diversity in the co-founding team, and welcome men, female-identifying, non-binary, and genderqueer co-founders.

Do you have to be based in NYC to apply?

Entrepreneurs should be prepared to spend substantial time working from the Anthemis and Rise offices in New York City but do not need to be based there to participate in the programme.

Do you have to be a FinTech expert to apply?
No, you just need to have a great business concept that could be applied to the FinTech sector, which we define very broadly.

Does your idea have to match Barclays’ core business?
No, we will accept ideas that are not core to Barclays’ business “sweet spot.” We are looking for business concepts that can be applied to the FinTech sector, which we define very broadly. 

What stage companies are eligible for the Lab?
The Lab is best suited for founders who have an idea they would like to refine and need help turning into a venture-backable business. We also encourage founders who are a little further along in that process to connect with our team.

Should idea-stage founders apply to the Lab?
Yes, that’s who we are looking for!

Why does the Lab stop working with companies once they achieve seed stage?

Our intention is to create venture-backable businesses that are ready to raise seed-stage capital. By the time that happens, the Lab will have achieved its mission.

How long will it take to get from idea to seed stage?
A typical timeline is 12-18 months, though that will vary company by company.

Who is leading the Lab?
The Lab is spearheaded by Katie Palencsar, Anthemis Principal and Studio Lead of the Female Innovators Lab, and Mariquit Corcoran, Executive Sponsor of the Female Innovators Lab, and Managing Director, Barclays Ventures US.

Katie joined the Anthemis team in September 2019 to lead the Female Innovators Lab. She was the founder and CEO of Unbound Concepts, acquired in 2017 by Certica Solutions. Katie’s experience as an entrepreneur from idea stage, to fundraising, scaling, exit and integration gives her an unparalleled understanding of what early stage companies need to achieve success. Katie will be supported by members of the Anthemis and Barclays teams who will serve as mentors to the companies in the Lab.

Mariquit is the Executive Sponsor of the Female Innovators Lab. She is Managing Director at Barclays Ventures US. Mariquit has spent nearly two decades in the financial services industry, holding positions and leading teams in businesses spanning across fixed income, operations, risk management, finance and banking. She was featured in the HERoes 100 Women Executives List 2019, supported by Yahoo Finance, as a result of being an active and vocal champion for initiatives focused on diversity and inclusion.

Will Anthemis and/or Barclays be investing in the companies?
The Lab will make an upfront investment in founders who join, and follow-on capital is available to support the business as it grows and approaches a seed stage fundraising round. The amount will vary founder by founder, business by business.

What gives Barclays and Anthemis the credibility to run this Lab?

Since 2010, Anthemis has made more than 100 investments in early stage FinTech companies and funds to advance its mission of transforming the financial services industry. Additionally, in 2014, Anthemis opened its own discretionary venture studio in London and a few years later expanded it to build companies in collaboration with outside partners. Alumni of Anthemis’ venture studio include New York City-based Kindur, founded by Rhian Horgan.

Barclays drives a number of initiatives focused on innovation, including Rise, created by Barclays, and the award-winning Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars, programme. Rise includes four state-of-the-art workspaces in London, New York, Tel Aviv and Mumbai, which are home to approximately 150 FinTech companies from around the world.

Members receive unparalleled access to training, workshops and events, and an exclusive opportunity to connect into the wider Barclays network of top-tier clients, partners, investors and experts. At the time of writing, the Barclays Accelerator has more than 170 alumni companies and 17 programmes completed to date, and is one of the largest single-bank-powered portfolios globally, with a portfolio valuation of over $1.1 billion.

Where did the idea for the Lab come from?
In addition to investing in early stage FinTech companies, Anthemis has had its own venture studio since 2014, building businesses on a discretionary basis as well as with outside partners. Anthemis’ commitment to women in FinTech, however, has been a part of its DNA since the business was founded by former Barclays executive, Amy Nauiokas, and her co-founder, Sean Park. You can read more about the origins of the Lab in this post by Jillian Williams, principal on the Anthemis investment team.

Barclays is focused on diversity and inclusion, and recognises the importance of helping female entrepreneurs succeed in the early stages of launching a startup. Barclays sees this partnership with Anthemis as an opportunity to further support women in the FinTech industry.

Why do we need a venture studio building female-founded startups versus just investing in them?
Women entrepreneurs are underrepresented in FinTech. The Lab intends to set female founders up for success by providing them access to the people and resources they need to develop companies that have been “bulletproofed” and are ready for additional investment.

Why is it important to back female founders?

Anthemis and Barclays are committed to transforming the financial services industry from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Information Age-businesses break down consolidated power structures to create new business models that do not reinforce the zero-sum games of the past. This means that the companies themselves, as well as the people who create them, must be reflective of today’s society.

We believe that women will play an increasingly important role in the transformation of the sector, as will other underrepresented groups in the history of financial services, and we want to do everything we can to encourage them to bring their entrepreneurial ideas forward.

Will Barclays and Anthemis be looking to support other types of underrepresented founders?
Barclays and Anthemis are always looking for new ways to support championing new voices in FinTech.