NYC's FinTech Innovation Lab Calling Tech Talent To Wall Street

Big Apple business leaders are at it again—trying to make New York City as sweet a home as can be for tech startups, this time with a 12-week bootcamp-type program, called the FinTech Innovation Lab. The lab is geared for entrepreneurs with skills and concepts that could benefit Wall Street.

According to a statement from the New York City Investment Fund, the U.S. financial services industry employs nearly 233,000 technology workers, including approximately 25,000 in New York City.

The FinTech Innovation Lab is accepting proposals through January 31, 2011. Applicants are required to have at least a working alpha version of their technology ready to be tested for either the institutional or retail financial services market.

The six (or fewer) companies accepted will get work space, partial funding for expenses, and mentorship from the participating financial firms over the course of 12 weeks. There is no cash component to the prizes.

Chief technology officers and senior technology executives of Bank of America, Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and UBS will determine which proposals win.

The annual program is run by the New York City Investment Fund, the economic development arm of the nonprofit Partnership for New York City, and Accenture.

Venture funds supporting the FinTech Innovation Lab, include: Contour Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Rho Ventures, RRE Ventures, Village Ventures and Warburg Pincus.

Winners will be notified by mid-March 2011. The program begins in early May and concludes with presentations to investors in late July. Finalists must reside in New York City for the duration of the program.