Citibank is one of 12 organizations working together on an innovation challenge called “Restarting Together,” designed to help entrepreneurs launch projects that will help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We and all the other partners that we’ve come together with have deep, long relationships in the startup community,” said Emily Turner, head of innovation and business development for Citi’s Institutional Clients Group. “Citi has existing relationships with many of the folks participating. Both in the venture space and the startup space, we have a history of collaboration.”  

Entrepreneurs are invited to submit their pitches through the end of the month, and the sponsoring companies will narrow the submissions down to nine finalists, of which three winners will be chosen during a digital pitch day Sep. 9. To guide the selection and mentorship process, Citi aims to use its experience working with startups through Citi Ventures, its venture capital arm, and D10X, its internal innovation pipeline. 

Other participants in the initiative are: Boston Consulting Group, Cemex, Telefonica, Airbus BizLab, BASF, Endeavor, IDB Lab, IE University, IESE Business School, Microsoft for Startups and South Summit. These sponsors will select the finalists based on social and economic impact, feasibility, rapid implementation time and degree of sustainability and innovation. Winners access the companies’ corporate resources and have the potential for investment or acceleration.  

Citi Ventures’ portfolio includes big-name businesses like Plaid, BlueVine and Square. Another, HighRadius, helped the bank develop its invoice matching tool, Citi Smart Match, as well as Citi Global Collect, a cross-border payment solution. In May, Citi Ventures’ D10X pipeline spun out Proxymity, a digital communications platform for investors.  

See also: Inside Citi Ventures’ internal ‘Shark Tank’ D10X

Arvind Purushotham, managing director and global head of venture investing at Citi Ventures, will represent the bank during the demo day in September. In addition to Turner and Purushotham, Alberto Verme, global chairman of the institutional clients group, and Bridget Fawcett, global head of strategy, banking, capital markets and advisory at Citi, will help frame the selection criteria and narrow down the initial submissions.  

Despite the Restarting Together initiative, it remains to be seen how fast the American economy will recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. “You can’t just turn the light switch on and have everyone go back to work, as much as businesses would love to do that,” Suzanne Clark, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told The New York Times recently. “It’s going to be the opposite of a green light. It’s going to go from red to yellow and then green.”