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Real substance.
Real connections.
Real opportunity.

Falls Fintech

Falls Fintech is a custom, 12-week program designed to accelerate market readiness for early-stage financial technology startups. Delivering a high-intensity curriculum with an elite network of financial, payment and technology professionals across the globe, Falls Fintech will promote breakthrough of the last-mile problems facing fintech today.

The formation of Falls Fintech is brought to you by Central Payments, the country's fastest growing prepaid card issuer and market-leading, full-scale, digital payments bank. Located in the #1 city in America for young entrepreneurs and cited as a best city to start a business, Sioux Falls, SD.

Benefits

(Hover mouse over each region to learn more)

Financial
Opportunity

All selected participants will receive more than $85,000 worth of services throughout the cohort. Along with resources and access to an elite network of financial professionals.
*Excluded for EIR. Talk to Falls Fintech for more information.

Investment
Potential

Exposure to an extensive network of investors and partners that may be willing to invest.

Connection to the Payments Ecosystem

Get access to Central Payments’ Open*CP Fintech API Marketplace with all the connections needed to launch a program. Save time, money, and get to market quicker.

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Bank Partner Opportunity

Upon program completion, Central Payments will facilitate an appropriate bank partner to support your program through Open*CP*.

*conditions apply

Extensive
Connections

Give us 70 days and we’ll get you connected with more than 70 of our best-in-class payments partners.

Highly Visible
Reception

Culminate the program with a highly-visible reception where you’ll present your product demo to industry leaders in the payments ecosystem, advisors, program sponsors, investors and the media.

Team

Nikkee Rhody

Nikkee Rhody

Co-Founder & Executive Director
Luke Pygman

Luke Pygman

Program Coordinator
Melissa Otten

Melissa Otten

Director of Marketing & Communications

Program

What?

Backed by the most recognizable brands in payments, Falls Fintech is an innovative accelerator program designed to expedite market readiness for early-stage financial technology start-ups.

How?

Falls Fintech offers an elite network of industry-leading companies along with a high-intensity, innovative, curriculum taught by experienced leaders from our extensive network. Subjects include data security, regulatory compliance, venture capital, marketing, leadership development and more.

When?

Applications will always be accepted, but the selection process for each cohort will close about 2 months before the start date.

Where?

Sioux Falls, SD. Say what?! Trust us, it’s a hub for banking and payments and recently named the top city for young professionals. Also cited as a best city to start a business along with many other accolades. Look it up!

Who?

Falls Fintech is brought to you by Central Payments, the driving force behind the fastest growing prepaid card issuer in the US since 2015.* Central Payments provides payment technology and solutions through its Open*CP Fintech API Marketplace℠, one of the only ‘REAL’ bank-as-a-service payments platforms built by fintech bankers with issuing capabilities embedded.

Our Focus

Innovative Financial Products

Fintech companies in the early stage of product launch, at or near minimum viable product and require the involvement of a bank for payment network membership, FDIC insurance, card issuance and/or funds movement.

We're keenly interested in products that are solving payment pain points in today's economy, especially if solutions involve improving the financial lives of Americans and those of modest means.

Verticals may include but are not limited to:
Digital Banking
Early-Wage Access
Debt Reduction
Disbursements
Financial Literacy

Those with a cap of $5MM external funding raised, a minimum-viable product and determination to succeed should apply today!

Open*CP is an open API platform that brings an agile and efficient experience to our partners with continuous release of new API functionality.

Developed as a means of consolidating the time-consuming process of connecting all the players in the payments ecosystem, Open*CP dramatically speeds up the time it takes to bring a product to market. The platform is issuer-developed and therefore, Central Payments is able to add multiple solution providers for all major functions. This has been a requirement from the beginning that Open*CP deliver both efficiency and choice for fintechs.

Access the entire payments ecosystem through Central Payments' Open*CP, the only BaaS platform powered by a full-scale digital bank.

Sponsors

partner-mastercard-crop
advocate-discover-crop advocate-stinson-crop advocate-CloudCard
supporter-RandP-crop sponsor-galileo-crop supporter-ffc supporter-ppm supporter-davenport-evans-hurwitz-smith-llp supporter-ubiquity
CentralPayments LogoStack 4C Sept2021_1

The formation of Falls Fintech is brought to you by Central Payments. Central Payments, LLC is a subsidiary of Central Bank of Kansas City (CBKC). The fastest growing prepaid card issuer from 2015-2018*, Central Payments administers payment card and funds disbursement programs via retail, employer/payroll, and online outlets nationwide. CBKC is a 68-year-old family-owned bank located in the heart of Kansas City, Mo. and one of 135 financial institutions in the country certified by the U.S. Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). CBKC and Central Payments share the mission to provide high-quality financial products to consumers of modest means who historically have not enjoyed the benefits of affordable and accessible financial services. “Treat Each Customer’s Balance as Though It’s All They Have” guides our approach to product design, customer service, and affordability. Member FDIC. Visit central-payments.com or centralbankkc.com for more information.

The Falls Fintech

Community

Welcome to

Sioux Falls!

Concerts, plays, sculptures, cycling, parks, and hunting:
Sioux Falls offers something for everyone.

Sioux Falls has a number of venues that host a variety of cultural activities. The new Levitt at the Falls will hold 50 free concerts each summer, the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center hosts family shows and concerts in the region, including acts like Elton John, Cher, Jason Aldean, and Garth Brookes. The Orpheum Theater is a historic gem located in the heart of DTSF, it hosts plays, concerts, and dance performances. The Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences features a state-of-the-art performance hall, multi-use “black box” theater, an OMNI theater, visual arts galleries and a Science Discovery Center. The Sculpture Walk is one of Sioux Falls most unique cultural amenities. One of the largest year-round outdoor sculpture displays in the nation, this exciting exhibit features 57 new outdoor sculptures from artists around the world each year.

When most people think of food from this part of the country, they think cheese, butter, and corn. In Sioux Falls, the case couldn’t be more different. You can try pistachio, coffee, and chocolate mint macarons at the French bakery CH Patisserie and tuna tataki at Sushi Masa Japanese Restaurant, both on bustling Phillips Avenue; brie and prosciutto at M.B. Haskett Delicatessen, owned by a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York; and Cioppino pasta with local heirloom Brandywines at Spezia on Louise Avenue. The folks that call Sioux Falls home clearly take their food seriously.

Why

Sioux Falls?

The secret is out. Sioux Falls is a better place to live. Our young, educated, well-trained workforce is expanding to meet the needs of both new and existing businesses and is creating a larger market for consumer goods and services. We are one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation, with a rate of population growth nearly four times the national average.

Sioux Falls ranked 4th for ease of doing business in North America.

Ranked No. 1 for the third year in a row for Best Cities for Young Professionals

South Dakota moves up a notch on list of Best States for Business

In the Top Ten Best Cities for Entrepreneurs in 2019

Ranked No. 7 in the Top 100 Best Places to Live

Ranked in the Top 10 Cities with Little to No Traffic

Ranked the Fourth Most Economically-Free Mid-Sized City

South Dakota offers the Best Bang for Your Buck

Sioux Falls in among the Best Cities for Jobs

Sioux Falls ranked one of the Best Cities to Start a Business

Top Ten Best States for Millennials

South Dakota is ranked as the Second Happiest State