Wells Fargo is exploring new technology in the corporate credit card and legal servicing space.

The $1.92 trillion bank’s internal accelerator welcomed two new startups to its portfolio yesterday, and is actively evaluating different applications of each technology as the bank looks to fill immediate needs with external innovation, Kevin Bouey, head of the Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator, told Bank Innovation.

“We get access to the entire bank for different opportunities and some of them are a little further out in thinking — pushing the edge of banking or beyond banking a little bit — and others are at the other end of the spectrum, where we might find an immediate need that can be met,” Bouey said. “Both of these companies come a little bit closer to that immediate need.”

For Extend, Wells Fargo’s commercial credit card team is testing the ability to issue cards to the bank’s corporate customers, who can then manage various attributes of the cards with their employees. The New York-based startup, which was founded in 2017 and has raised $14 million to date, according to Crunchbase, provides a digital payments infrastructure that supports cards.

Extend offers a suite of virtual card APIs, a corporate card app and a card tokenization service. The Wells Fargo card group is experimenting with how dynamic Extend’s technology is, the flexibility of its model and how actions and data flow through the bank, fintech and corporate client systems, Bouey said.

Wells Fargo’s Allysun Fleming to speak at Banking Automation Summit

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo’s collections team is looking to streamline internal processes for legal services with Washington, D.C.-based startup Oliver in order to ensure compliance with local regulations. Oliver’s technology builds software that consolidates and organizes compliant legal servicing and facilitates collaboration on a common platform between its partners and local courthouses.

The startup seeks to speed the litigation process by incorporating federal, state, local and venue-specific laws, rules and procedures into its clients’ workflows and documentation. Oliver manages the communication between the two groups and automates the assembly and redaction of required documents so Wells Fargo doesn’t “have to be an expert in every local authority,” Bouey said. He added that the platform “makes sure all the regulations and processes that each local authority has is embedded in the technology.”

The bank is currently working through exactly how the platform’s data will be embedded into Wells Fargo’s technology. “That’s what’s interesting about this kind of company: experimenting with what their technology looks like today and seeing if they have the appropriate capabilities that meet the needs of the bank and our customers today, and testing that out. And if they don’t, helping them figure out how to get there,” Bouey said.

The Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator’s other focuses range from augmented reality to the financial impact on climate change. Now in its sixth year, the program has 27 startups in its portfolio from around the world. Startups in the program are eligible for up to $1 million in funding, a sum that is “pretty standard” for the bank that is offered on a case-by-case basis, and they also receive guidance from Wells Fargo business and technology leaders.

The 2020 Banking Automation Summit Virtual Experience, taking place November 9-10, is a new event that will provide a platform for industry professionals to share fresh insights, tools, trends and strategies. The Summit will focus on how automation will transform banking, especially with regard to back-office operations, risk management, data science and utilization, customer experience and more. Register here.