Local business leaders launch program to help nurture Charlotte tech startups
Charlotte business leaders are teaming up with a startup incubator to launch a program they hope will help boost the city’s next big tech company at its early stages.
Carolina Fintech Hub and entrepreneurship non-profit MassChallenge are launching what they call “The Meta Lab,” an initiative designed to support new financial and health technology startup companies in Charlotte.
The news of the plans came on Wednesday, the same day of the initial public offering for Charlotte-based payment software company AvidXchange. CEO Michael Praeger founded the multibillion-dollar firm in a local coffee shop in 2000.
Charlotte has become a “fintech destination” in recent years, Tariq Bokhari, a Charlotte city councilman and executive director of the fintech hub, said in a news release. “The Meta Lab is the next chapter in that story of inspiring growth.”
Truist Bank and Charlotte-based investment management firm Barings are collaborating with MassChallenge and Carolina Fintech Hub on the project.
Startups selected for the program will have the chance to collaborate with Carolina Fintech Hub anchor partners like U.S. Bank and Fifth Third Bank. Entrepreneurs from anywhere can apply.
Participating firms will also have the chance to dip into an equity-free “innovation prize pool” fund made possible by Charlotte-based firms Movement Mortgage and LendingTree, as well as EY.
Later phases of the Meta Lab could help new companies with business development, capital investments and even acquisitions, the news release said.
Bokhari called the initiative a new approach to recruiting fintech and healthtech companies to Charlotte. The city has already attracted some significant expansions in the last couple of years, from Robinhood to Better.com and Credit Karma.
Charlotte is a relatively affordable city with strong financial infrastructure and a broad talent pool, Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo, told the Observer last week. Those factors benefit growing companies — and AvidXchange’s sizable IPO could stand as a beacon of what’s possible for future firms.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 6:12 PM.
