Program continues focus on problem domains facing consumer and business financial services: decision intelligence, finance process and workflow innovation, and financial inclusion; applications now open for 2026 cohort
NEW YORK, Feb. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Curinos, a provider of decision intelligence for financial institutions, today announced that applications are open for the second year of the Curinos FinTech Incubator. Building on the success of its inaugural 2025 cohort, the program—delivered in partnership with CoMotion at the University of Washington—supports early-stage fintech startups that seek to enable smarter financial decisions for customers and institutions, advance financial understanding and opportunity, and deliver impactful data- and analytics-driven innovation.
Launched in 2025, the Curinos Fintech Incubator selected three early-stage companies in its first year from a competitive applicant pool: Nudge Money, AltCred, and Prof of Wall Street. The cohort demonstrated how AI, behavioral science, and alternative data can improve financial access, engagement, and decision-making. Founders gained hands-on support through Curinos' market insights and industry expertise, supported by its proprietary data assets, alongside CoMotion Labs' entrepreneurial resources and innovation ecosystem.
"The inaugural cohort showed the power of pairing Curinos' real-world data, analytics and industry expertise with CoMotion's proven incubation model," said Olly Downs, Chief Technology, Product, and AI Officer at Curinos. "As we open applications for our second year, we're excited to support founders building thoughtful, data-driven solutions to some of financial services' most complex challenges."
The 2026 Curinos FinTech Incubator will again select a cohort of startups to participate in a structured program designed to accelerate growth and market readiness. Participants will receive mentorship from Curinos leaders, access to exclusive market insights and benchmarking tools, guidance on technology, product, value proposition, and commercialization strategy. They'll also receive a CoMotion Labs membership that includes coworking space, University of Washington resources, and opportunities for learning, mentorship, and networking. In addition, Cohort members will qualify for access to the Databricks for Startups program, including up to $50,000 in product credits, technical support, and training resources to help teams build and scale data-driven products.
"Startups today need both strong data foundations and real-world industry context to scale responsibly," said Dan Tobin, Vice President of Startups at Databricks. "By building on Databricks through the Curinos FinTech Incubator, founders get the data, tooling, and AI capabilities they need to more quickly turn innovative ideas into production-ready solutions for financial institutions."
"We're thrilled to continue our partnership with Curinos as we enter the second year of the FinTech Incubator at UW CoMotion Labs," said François Baneyx, Director of CoMotion and UW Vice Provost for Innovation. "The success of the inaugural cohort underscores the strength of this collaboration. With Curinos' industry insights, deep AI expertise, and access to a vibrant startup ecosystem, the incubator is uniquely positioned to help founders turn bold ideas into meaningful impact."
For founders, the program delivers practical, hands-on value beyond traditional incubation.
"The Curinos FinTech Incubator helped us sharpen our product and partner strategies through an inflection point of growth in our target market," said Reagan Bonlie, CEO of Nudge Money and a member of the 2025 cohort. "The combination of Curinos' industry-focused mentorship and CoMotion's founder-first support allowed us to move faster and think bigger about our impact."
The incubator builds on a strong legacy. Between 2018 and 2023, the program supported 18 fintech startups that collectively raised more than $140 million in venture capital. The 2025 relaunch marked a renewed focus on scalable, responsible innovation aligned with Curinos' mission to power intelligent financial decisions.
Applications for the 2026 Curinos FinTech Incubator are now open. Early-stage fintech startups focused on financial inclusion, personalization, behavioral finance, and data-driven decisioning are encouraged to apply.
For more information about the Curinos FinTech Incubator and application details, visit curinos.com/curinos-fintech-incubator-2026.
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SOURCE CURINOS INC
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