ARM Group in partnership with Ventures Platform has announced the commencement of the second cohort of its LABS by ARM Accelerator programme, as it gives $20,000 each to five startups as seed funding.
LABS by ARM a platform aimed at supporting and funding compelling fintech startups focused on solving key problems in innovative ways around the financial industry, while unlocking verticals and markets, thereby changing how users access and consume financial services.
According to Asset Resource Management Group, (ARM) the Accelerator Programme, which has five participants in this year’s cohort from a pool of 191 applications, is aimed at helping early-stage growth fintech companies to grow exponentially, giving them access to market while improving their distribution capabilities.
“For us, we believe that companies that build great technology and are solving real-life problems are great companies to support. It is our own way of giving back to the fintech society,” Henrietta Olushina, MD ARM Financial Advisers said.
The accelerator programme, a 12- week programme, which kicked off on the 10th of February, offers for the first time since its maiden edition in 2019, a $20,000 seed funding, office space, Amazon Web Services (AWS) credit of up to $10,000, access to the ARM network capabilities and support the companies with carefully selected mentors comprising seasoned business leaders from the fintech industry who will provide hands-on support to the selected companies.
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Mrs Olushina disclosed that the selected companies for the second cohort include Rise, Kwaba, Quantis Finance, Trusaver and Owoafara. She added that six companies participated in the first cohort. The companies included ARM’s PayDay Investor and Trove, with the latter getting $30,000 seed funding, while other selected companies got a N3 million grant.
However, ARM said it would make subsequent editions of the programme bigger and better, creating 25 alumni companies over a five-year period. The companies are charting a new market course and have become household names and unicorn companies in Nigeria.
“We want them to be the unicorns coming out of Nigeria, companies that are household names creating markets that don’t exist, and for that is what this really is,” Olushina said.
ARM is a leading Nigerian diversified and integrated asset management group firm established in 1994 that offers wealth creation solutions and opportunities through a unique blend of traditional assets management and alternative investment services.