Fintech Sandbox was founded in 2014 by David Jegen, Sarah Biller, John Fawcett, and Ty Danco. As fintech entrepreneurs and investors, they had seen first-hand that access to data was a large barrier for fintech startups. And even if entrepreneurs could afford the data, developers had steep learning curves to work with new data types, data providers and financial protocols.
Fintech Sandbox was their solution.
They formed a nonprofit to aggregate financial data, streamline the licensing process, and make data available to fintech entrepreneurs for free for product development and testing.
Ten years in, Fintech Sandbox residents have built hundreds of new products and services, created thousands of jobs, and attained more than $2B in private company funding. Fintech Sandbox has become a center of gravity for the fintech community and broadened its contributions by organizing & hosting Boston Fintech Week and managing Mass Fintech Hub.
May 2014
Fintech Sandbox founded by David Jegen, Sarah Biller, Ty Danco, and John Fawcett as a Massachusetts-based nonprofit.
March 2015
Fintech Sandbox launches with Fidelity Investments, SVB, AWS, Intel, and Thomson Reuters as partners and with Quantopian, Kensho, and Elsen as our first startups.
August 2015
Fintech Sandbox receives its first 100 applications.
October 2015
Fintech Sandbox hosts its first Demo Day, in partnership with State Street, featuring nine startups from the program.
December 2015
32 startups accepted into Data Access Residency in its first year across the US and UK.
December 2016
Reaches 12 accelerator partners, 28 data partners, and 58 accepted startups.
April 2016
Fintech Sandbox expands to support startups across Boston, New York, San Francisco, London, and Chicago.
April 2017
Fintech Sandbox expands internationally by accepting the first startups based in Toronto.
July 2017
Fintech Sandbox produces first full scale Boston Fintech Week with 13 events over 4 days and over 1,000 attendees.
September 2018
Boston Fintech Week returns featuring a powerhouse line up of speakers including Abby Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments.
2020
Expands global impact with first startups based out of Germany, Brazil, and Singapore joining the Data Access Residency.
September 2020
Kelly Fryer joins Fintech Sandbox as new Executive Director.
June 2021
Mass Fintech Hub launches, as an initiative under Fintech Sandbox, to strengthen the fintech ecosystem within Massachusetts.
October 2021
Boston Fintech Week goes virtual with 2,000+ attendees from 57 countries
April 2022
Fintech Sandbox hosts its 8th Demo Day as part of New York Fintech Week
September 2022
Boston Fintech Week returns to in-person focusing on the theme of “fintech& – Building Today for Uncharted Tomorrow”
November 2022
Fintech Sandbox expands to South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico, and Finland.
March 2023
Fintech Sandbox accepts its 300th
startup into its Data Access Residency.
April 2023
Fintech Sandbox hosts its 9th Demo Day, this time featuring 18 startups from 5 different countries across 3 days of virtual demos.
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