CBA’s Xccelerate flags $250,000 for AI start-ups

The nation’s largest bank has opened an AI accelerator seeking start-ups it can partner with to improve customer and employee experience.

CBA is the latest in a long line of tech companies to open AI accelerators and mentoring programs in Australia. Picture: Getty Images

Australia’s largest bank has put aside $250,000 for an AI start-up whose product can help it improve its customer service and “employee experience”.

CBA has opened applications for its Xccelerate program under its x15ventures fund which is seeking pre-series A start-ups to apply and be in the running for the funding and potentially highly lucrative partnership.

The bank is the latest in a long line of tech companies, including AWS and Google, which have opened AI accelerators and mentoring programs in Australia in a bid to secure the start-ups as customers, earn a small equity stake or keep ahead of the market.

While CBA is offering a cash prize, both AWS and Google have offered start-ups in their cohorts prizes in the form of credits, offering $US1m ($1.48m) and $US350,000 worth of cloud credits respectively to winners.

Laura Faulconer, portfolio director at x15ventures, said the program saw major interest last year with over 70 start-ups joining.

CBA chief data and analytics officer Andrew McMullan.

AgTech integrator Pairtree Intelligence picked up the last $250,000 investment and signed a strategic partnership with CBA to develop services for the agricultural sector. Automotive platform Vyro was also able to land a CBA partnership after taking place in the program

While just one start-up will secure funding, 15 to 20 start-ups will be selected to attend a mentoring program in September.

“We want to hear from early-stage founders that see strategic partnership with a corporate, like Comm Bank, as a path to scaling their business,” Ms Faulconer said. “With over 600 early-stage AI and data start-ups in Australia, we’re hoping this year’s program – our sixth since launching x15 in 2020 – will be the best yet.”

CBA chief data and analytics officer Dr Andrew McMullan said AI was advancing so rapidly that partnering with other players in the area makes sense to stay ahead of the curve.

“AI and data are and will continue to be key enablers of Comm Bank’s strategy to build tomorrow’s bank today. With the pace of recent advancements in GenAI, it’s hard to imagine a future in which we can deliver the best customer and employee experiences without them,” he said.

“While Comm Bank is already recognised as a leader in AI maturity, it’s still early days and we know the biggest opportunities for innovation lie ahead of us.”

In June, AWS’s Generative AI Accelerator received a $US230m ($346m) cash injection to beef-up a 10-week program targeting 80 early-stage start-ups.

Australian start-up Leonardo. Ai was a former participant of the program and went on to raise $47m in December from several VC firms including Blackbird, Side Stage Ventures, Smash Capital, TIRTA Ventures, Gaorong Capital and Samsung Next.

John Kearney, AWS’s Australian head of start-ups, said it was focused on getting more local start-ups on board and giving them early exposure to investors.

Google’s AI Accelerator is targeting seed and series A stage start-ups building AI and ML-driven platforms. The accelerator, which closes applications on July 31, will select between eight and 15 start-ups to will be put through a 10-week program offering assistance in product design, customer acquisition and technical support.