Center for Accelerating Financial Equity (CAFE)

What an incredible Demo Day Showcase for the CAFE cohort! ?? Yesterday CAFE hosted our Fall 2024 Fintech Demo Day Showcase at the University of Delaware’s Fintech Innovation Hub. It was an inspiring afternoon as our six incredible cohort companies, Carvertise, Giving Credit, Kredit Academy, Odynn, Prismm, and Salus, pitched their innovative solutions and connected with attendees. Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate and meet these extraordinary founders! CAFE programming for the day included thought-provoking presentations for our founders from industry experts Harry Wang from UD's Data Science Institute on AI for Fintech and Brad A. Molotsky from Duane Morris on Opportunity Zones and their benefits for small businesses and investment strategies. Our cohort traveled from around the country to showcase their products and participate in our Demo Day. Founders pitched their solutions to a room full of industry leaders, banks, investors, and peers. Congratulations to all the fintechs! We’re excited to continue supporting you as you grow your businesses, create meaningful impacts, and advance financial health and wellness for low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities. Greg Star, Ashley Sherwin, David Henderson, Evan Leaphart, Mike Gross, John Taylor Garner, Yohan Mehary, Anuj Patel, Martha Underwood, Shella Sylla, James Chemplavil, Ryan Barrett Thank you to the entire CAFE team and advisors over the course of the entire fall fintech accelerator program! Kristen Castell, Mike Bowman, Charlie Horn Wayne Miller, Tracy Shickel, Matthew Parks, Amy Walls, Pedro Moore, and Breanna Reyes as well as support from Angela Giliberti Thank you to our sponsors of the Fall 2024 Fintech Accelerator Program: Best Egg, American Bankers Association, Delaware Prosperity Partnership, Cohen Circle, Wolf & Company, P.C., Siegfried Advisory, Discover Financial Services, deBanked A huge thank you to everyone who participated, supported, and celebrated the achievements of this talented cohort. We look forward to seeing how they continue to shape the future of fintech! ??

With Thanksgiving just around the corner and our CAFE Fintech Accelerator program coming to a close, we’re taking a moment to reflect on how grateful we are for the incredible sponsors, participants, and organizations who made the Fall 2024 program possible. It would not be possible without our remarkable sponsors who support our mission to empower fintech founders and foster innovation in the fintech space. A special thank you to Best Egg, our accelerator program's main sponsor. Best Egg’s dedication to financial wellness and innovation inspires us as we work toward driving impactful change. We’d also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our other sponsors?American Bankers Association, Delaware Prosperity Partnership, Cohen Circle, Wolf & Company, P.C., Siegfried Advisory, Discover Financial Services, and deBanked for their invaluable contributions to the success of our program. Thank you to our Fall 2024 cohort for their time and dedication to the program over the past eight weeks. Your hard work and passion have been the heart of this program! Carvertise, Giving Credit, Kredit Academy, Odynn, Prismm, Salus Together we're shaping the future of financial health and inclusion! #CAFE #CAFEAccelerator #Fintech #Innovation #FinancialInclusion #CommunityImpact #Gratitude

Congratulations to NESTER !

?? Robinhood just spent $300M on a custodian. But this move isn’t just about business—it’s about a cultural shift in how we think about wealth, trust, and legacy. In my latest piece, I explore the ripple effects you might not see coming: ? Empowering everyday investors to build micro-legacies ? Normalizing wealth conversations in families ? The opportunities—and challenges—this creates for innovators like Prismm What do your tea leaves reveal? Share your insights and join the conversation.

We are grateful to CAFE mentor Ila Eckhoff, MBA, CPA for joining our cohort's group coaching session to learn more about them and their companies! Ila shared her personal experiences from her career at BlackRock, providing practical advice on people and process management. She also emphasized the power of mindfulness and meditation as helpful tools for effective leadership and emotional regulation. Ila's insights and stories inspire our founders to approach challenges head on with clarity and intention. Thank you, Ila, for your guidance and support of CAFE! #CAFEAccelerator #CAFE #Leadership #Mindfulness #Innovation #Mentors

CAFE had an incredible experience at the Venture135 conference in Charlotte, NC yesterday! It was inspiring to see so many fintechs pitching innovative ideas, meeting with investors, and collaborating with other accelerator programs to drive real change. Our CAFE Managing Director Kristen Castell presented about the CAFE Accelerator on stage to share share how we’re empowering startups focused on financial wellness for LMI people and to build a community of aligned investors and financial institutions. We met with with startups and investors who are equally passionate about transforming the financial services landscape was truly energizing. Our CAFE cohort fintechs Kredit Academy Evan Leaphart and Odynn Yohan Mehary Anuj Patel presented and we connected with other incredible founders and companies such as @Blended Arnab Khan, @Backbone Stuart P. Lott Bryan Young Home Lending Pal FitBUX Joseph Reinke, CFA Renee Fry Gentreo Gordana Vuckovic (G) Zehra Cataltepe TAZI AI Systems . We also saw our industry colleagues such as Jamie Scott Berniker Kristina Ara?as Morris Brandon Oliver Richard Munassi MD MBA and met new accelerator friends Dakota Simpson Nashville Entrepreneur Center! Thank you to RevTech Labs Foundation including Dan Roselli @kasey jackson Shannon Perry who made this event possible and to those who joined in the fun! Excited to see how these collaborations continue to shape the future of fintech! #FintechInnovation #Accelerators #FintechCAFE #investors #inclusion #community #entrepreneurs

ACCOUNTABILITY POST - Week 87 Like my good friend Anna Cobb said in her ACT House pitch in last years demo day "your friend is tiedddd" ... well she said girl but you get my point. Anyways been a long stretch this past week but a productive one. Over the past week I was able to visit AFROTECH and catch up with so many good folks. So I don't run into a post mention limit I'll shout out some folks in the comments ha. Loved to hear what people were building and how we all work together to push the culture forward. After a brief stop in Pittsburgh to relax with friends and family I headed off with Mike Gross to Delaware for our Center for Accelerating Financial Equity (CAFE) demo day to pitch to a group of bankers and ran into my guy Wayne Miller from ICBA who blessed me with a highly sought after 'Scrappy' hat. He has seen the peaks and valleys of our journey from early Kiddie Kredit days. I thank Kristen Castell for putting that all together and seeing Martha Underwood Shella Sylla of Prismm, Greg Star of Carvertise, Ashley Sherwin David Henderson of Giving Credit, John Taylor Garner Yohan Mehary Anuj Patel of Odynn and last but certainly not least James Chemplavil and Ryan Barrett of Salus close the show. Thanks to Best Egg, Matthew Parks and the Fintech Innovation hub for all of your efforts. Next day we headed to DC for the American Fintech Council Policy Summit which put us in front of some key partners and prospective clients as we learned more about the road that lies ahead in fintech. After a day of learning there was a nice dinner curated by Alex McLeod, MBA of Parlay Finance. Nice way to finish off the evening. Oh, and thank you Elizabeth Glaser for the stop in between, appreciate your enthusiasm for our mission! After a day of much needed rest it was off to Charlotte for Venture135 where we pitched again to a group of bankers. While the trip was short it was indeed impactful as we connected with a few investors and for the EIGHTH time shared a stage with my brother Bryan Young of Home Lending Pal. I'm sure I'm leaving out many details in between but I wanted to give as many flowers as possible before going on DND and being heads down for majority of the year. Look forward to staying connected with everyone and keeping the momentum going, was nice to get real time feedback on our product, business model and progress. Hope everyone enjoys this upcoming week with family and uses the time for a reset. Until next one... Peace and love!

We would like to thank the @Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) for hosting our CAFE cohort and providing a platform for our fintech founders to pitch to ICBA's extensive network of community banks yesterday! The ICBA champions the success of community banks, which play a critical role in fostering financial wellness and inclusion for underserved communities, a mission closely aligned with CAFE’s goals of driving meaningful change and expanding access to financial wellness for low-to-moderate (LMI) populations. Thank you Wayne Miller for moderating and organizing the event! Learn more about ICBA here: https://www.icba.org/ #FinancialWellness #CommunityBanking #FintechInnovation #ICBA #CAFEAccelerator #CAFE

Thank you to Devin Olmack from Calvert Impact and the Mission Driven Bank Fund for meeting with our CAFE cohort and taking the time to hear about their innovative companies! The Mission-Driven Bank Fund focuses on investing in financial institutions that serve underserved communities, advancing equitable access to banking and resources to create a more inclusive banking system. We appreciate the opportunity for our founders to share their vision with the Mission Driven Bank Fund dedicated to creating positive change in the financial sector. Thank you for your support of CAFE! Read more here ?? https://lnkd.in/exjWjCzH #Fintech #FinancialInclusion #CAFEAccelerator #CAFE #MissionDrivenImpact

The American Fintech Council Policy Summit in DC yesterday showcased the incredible power of community as regulators and the financial services industry came together to shape the future of finance! The event underscored the importance of collaboration in navigating the evolving financial landscape, fostering innovation, and ensuring inclusivity. I was honored to represent Center for Accelerating Financial Equity (CAFE). Meaningful relationships were built, and invaluable insights were shared, highlighting the commitment to creating policies that drive sustainable growth and equitable access. Thanks to the AFC, Phil Goldfeder Rebecca O'Mara Hayden Cole and team for hosting such a valuable summit! I was able to spend time with CAFE cohort companies from both the spring and fall programs Stratyfy Parlay Finance Prismm Carvertise Kredit Academy Laura Kornhauser Liam Kenneally Alex McLeod, MBA Martha Underwood Shella Sylla Greg Star Evan Leaphart Mike Gross Deniz A. Johnson. Also saw financial industry and investment leaders Charles Potts Pam Kaur Carey Ransom Elizabeth Coston McCluskey and regulators Ann Epstein and spent time with new friends Kristian Lund and Rachel Rodman. Together, we’re paving the way for a stronger, more inclusive financial future. #AFCPolicySummit2024 #FinanceForAll #Collaboration #FutureOfFinance #FintechCAFE #FinancialIndustry #Fintech #Regulation #Policymakers #Community