BMO Harris Bank and Chicago-based incubator 1871 have unveiled plans for their annual fintech mentorship program, and this year they are shining a light on female-led fintechs.

WMN•FINtech is the latest evolution of the Innovation Program, a three-month mentorship program for startups that have created solutions or services in the financial sector; participating startups are provided with an opportunity to pilot their products with BMO. Applications are accepted through May 11, and are open to fintechs nationwide that have a woman founder or co-founder; cohorts typically consist of five to seven startups.

“We’ve all seen a number of studies that indicate women-led startups receive less venture capital than those founded by men and that seems to be the case in terms of the number of rounds and the size of those rounds. There’s also a good body of evidence that shows women are underrepresented in fintech,” said Ben Schack, head of digital partnerships at BMO Harris. “For women founders in particular, if you want to have an industry that’s not just about solving problems as seen by men and as solved by men, I think having really strong representation of women founders, who also see those problems and solve them from their perspective, is going to be valuable for everybody.”

While the mentorship program helps startups navigate the complexities of bank-vendor partnerships, it’s a mutually beneficial venture. In past years, the program has given BMO Harris access to outside innovation, emerging banking technology and early stage startups that allow BMO to “look around the corner, see what’s coming in a new way and access new ideas early,” Schack said, noting the Chicago-based bank has also formed partnerships with startups from the program.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has shifted some banks’ digital roadmaps, BMO Harris is sticking to its schedule with the mentorship program. “Digital innovation and quality digital experiences are more important now, in light of COVID, than they were before,” Schack said. “This is also a time where startups need more support, not less, from the corporate sector generally and from us specifically.”

BMO Harris is currently working to conduct an entirely virtual program this year. Since expanding it nationwide last year, the bank and 1871 have moved some of the program’s segments online, such as the one-on-one and small group meetings and workshops. This will be the first year the program has been fully online, Schack said.

The Innovation Program has also had an unexpected impact to the bank’s innovation culture, giving bank executives a chance to engage with the startup community and support entrepreneurs. “That’s turned out to be tremendously energizing for our employee base,” Schack said, adding, “I don’t think we ever realized quite how much excitement this would build internally and how excited people would be to give up their time, and to do what’s frankly more work for them on top of their job.”

In the past, the program declared which select startups were the winners, but this year BMO is not framing the program as a contest. Rather, it will focus on equally supporting all groups in the cohort, which is intended to build stronger connections between the founders in the program.