Governor Hutchinson attended the Venture Center’s annual Demo Day to urge Fintech Accelerator participants to set up shop in Arkansas to grow their startups. Hutchinson noted that Arkansas has become home to several of the firms that previously graduated from the accelerator. He encouraged the new cohort to take advantage of the financial and technical support that Arkansas offers technology companies.

Moments prior, FIS Chairman and CEO Gary Norcross announced that FIS would extend their sponsorship of the accelerator for another year. Norcross emphasized that FIS supports financial technology startups as the banking industry experiences a digital transformation.

Venture Center Executive Director Wayne Miller noted that this year’s cohort was selected from 225 applications from across the 32 countries.

Hutchinson and Norcross acknowledged the importance of accelerating into the future by investing in innovative companies. The ten startups that showcased their innovations at the Demo Day included:

• ChangeEd, Chicago, IL
• Curu, Charlotte, NC
• Digital Onboarding, Boston, MA
• Genivity, Chicago, IL
• Gremlin Social, St. Louis, MO
• Highside, Bethesda, MD
• Mimble, Portland, OR
• Neener Analytics, Sunnyvale, CA
• Sendmi, Lehi, UT
• Voleo, Vancouver, Canada

“The state of Arkansas invests in this Fintech Accelerator because we want FIS to continue to be a global leader in financial technology,” Hutchinson said. “And, so we invest to support one of our home-growns that still has great roots here in the state. But we also invest because we want a return on the investment by building the technology sector here in this state.”