Commonwealth Bank's venture-scaling arm X15 Ventures is hoping to invest in a fresh round of startups that can "reimagine how customers shop, pay and are rewarded."
X15 today opened the floor to entrepreneurs and experienced founders in partnership with financial technology startup hub Stone & Chalk.
Winners of the Xccelerate21 program will be granted a $150,000 investment from X15 Ventures through a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) note.
SAFE notes are a method of seed capital raising that gives an investor "the right to purchase stock in a future equity round (when one occurs)", subject to conditions in the note.
X15 Ventures is keen to find solutions to payment challenges and to helping retail businesses foster relationships with their customers.
Finalists will be invited for to a Sydney Pitch Day event held in August and given the opportunity to present their ideas to the wider X15 team, CBA employees and industry partners.
“The ventures backed by X15 get more than capital – they get access to expertise, technology and security, which can accelerate their path to scale with a strategic partner in CBA,” X15 Ventures managing director Toby Norton-Smith said in a statement.
"Xccelerate allows us to open our doors to earlier stage start-ups and entrepreneurs, help test and evolve their thinking, and for the winner, access early-stage funding and a plan for how they could scale in the future through X15 and CBA."
