The Venture Center of Little Rock on Thursday announced its partnership with Bear State Bank for the 2017 VC FinTech Accelerator, which is sponsored by global technology services provider FIS and held at the Little Rock Technology Park.
The accelerator is a 12-week program designed to help early stage startups grow. Ten startups will be selected from a pool of 295 applicants to participate.
Lee Watson, CEO and president of the Venture Center, said in a news release, "It is our strong relationships within the banking community that makes our accelerator program globally competitive."
The Venture Center said financial institutions that partner with it will gain early access to the latest innovation in the industry.
Yurik Paroubek, chief technology officer at the bank, said in the release, "People interact with money in every aspect of their lives and we need to find ways to make those interactions simple, mobile and effective for our customers."
Partnering with the accelerator will help the bank provide customers with a better experience, he said.