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Young entrepreneurs are often looking for ways to connect with corporate partners but don’t know how to get their foot in the door, whereas banks like BNP Paribas can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of startups out there.
BNP Paribas has now launched a new initiative, OpenUp, to match innovative startups with the bank for potential partnerships and collaborations.
The platform, for both mobile (iOS and Android) and the Web, brings efficiency to the networking process, especially for startups and project managers for whom time is valuable.
Startups that sign up to OpenUp will be matched with business needs coming from several departments within BNP Paribas. They’ll then have the opportunity to present their ideas, apply to projects, gain advice by connecting with experts and grow.
OpenUp is being launched and deployed by various arms of BNP Paribas around the world between now and December, while the program has no borders and is open globally to any startups in search of business opportunities.
Currently there are more than 350 project managers on OpenUp, and 500 startups. The platform has hosted 24 projects calling for innovative solutions from the startup ecosystem out of which 14 resulted in actual collaborations in seven different countries.
The teams at BNP Paribas said they were surprised by the keen interest shown by entrepreneurs and the positive feedback the initiative had among startups. This feedback, together with the first results, are encouraging the teams in charge to work on easing internal processes to allow faster deal closing and solution implementation.
The program focuses on connecting startups to project managers around business opportunities and no equity is taken. The goal for BNP Paribas is to team up with startups to improve existing products and services or build up new ones together.
BNP Paribas teams are looking for startups in B2C or B2B, worldwide and not only in fintech. If you’re a startup that is interested in getting involved, you can sign up here.
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