Fintech Sandbox, a newly launched non-profit looking to cultivate financial services startups, has quietly scored a crucial sponsor: Silicon Valley Bank.

SVB, which is one of the leading banks for tech startups in the nation, disclosed its participation last week to little notice.

SVB said it was a “lead sponsor” of Fintech Sandbox. SVB officials said the bank joined Fintech Sandbox as part of an effort to be “very focused on supporting our clients’ success by providing unique opportunities to enhance their business.”

Fintech Sandbox, which was launched last spring, also has backing from Fidelity Investments, Thomson Reuters, and Amazon.com.

Fintech Sandbox is interesting in that it is seeking to advance startups mainly through data. Here’s how the venture describes itself:

A community-led effort, FinTech Sandbox helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses by offering free or discounted access to (i) a robust set of data feeds, (ii) cloud hosting, (iii) office space and (iv) a community of entrepreneurs, mentors, data providers, potential investors and potential customers for new FinTech applications.

David Jegen, managing director of Devonshire Investors, the private investment arm of the Johnson family, which controls Fidelity, explained the need for Fintech Sandbox to the Boston Globe this way:

Fintech entrepreneurs have a unique problem, which is the high cost of data to help them build applications. They raise $2 million of venture capital funding, and then spend $500,000 of it buying market data from Bloomberg or Thomson Reuters. Or they show up to customers, who say, “Nice app, but it hasn’t been tested on robust data sets.” We think that is a problem we can help solve.

SVB is also working with MasterCard on the card company’s accelerator dedicated to helping payment startups get to market faster. That accelerator has already “graduated” one class of companies from the program, and a second class is underway, according to SVB.

SVB, a publicly traded bank, has about $30 billion of deposits.