JPMorgan Chase Offers Startups Chance At VC Fundraising

JPMorgan Chase will try and cater to startups with a new platform to connect founders with venture capital, according to Reuters.

The platform will be called Capital Connect, and the bank told Reuters that it will focus on serving startups from their early stages. The goal is to try and capitalize on the way venture-capital-backed companies have been ballooning in size — so banks have been trying to build relationships early.

Capital Connect will let startup founders can ask for introductions to investors, build virtual data rooms and also trade company shares on a secondary market if they want, along with using the website to fundraise if they need to.

“We’ve seen a secular trend over the last decade is in the growth in private capital, and the private market is here to stay. We want to be the one-stop shop for all things private for servicing companies and investors of all sizes,” Michael Elanjian, head of Digital Investment Banking and Digital Private Markets at JPMorgan, and head of the new platform, said in an interview.

He added that Capital Connect may be a starting point to digitize more services such as the company’s investment banking business.

J.P. Morgan has also been tapped by fintech startup Payload to power the latter’s inbound and outbound payment solution, which is integration-first, PYMNTS wrote.

Read more: JPMorgan Powers Payload Unified API Payments Platform

J.P. Morgan has already put support behind Payload’s new payment facilitator status, which Payload has used to deliver a unified fintech platform driven by API. Payload’s platform wants to take on workflows that haven’t usually been taken on by fintechs, including real estate, insurance and legal payments.

Payload will now also be offering automated clearing house, card networks and real-time payments on a unified API platform.

Payload CEO Ryan Rybolt said the solution “will unlock our ability to deliver disruptive payment capabilities to the real estate industry and other industries that suffer from rigid and manual payment workflows.”