BMW Teams with 6 U.S. Startups

BMW AG’s Financial Services unit in the U.S. has selected the first six startup companies to participate in its Collaboration Lab program.

The startups, which were chosen from more than 200 applicants, will work with BMW experts and affiliate partners in a 10-week program to further develop business ideas and technologies. The program will be held at BMW Financial Services’ offices in Hilliard, Ohio.

The six companies and their focus areas are:

• Bloom uses blockchain-type encryption technology to verify a customer’s identity and credit history without storing raw data on computer servers.
• carLABS says it has created an artificial intelligence-powered platform for automating and enhancing sales and marketing programs.
• Motion Auto Insurance is developing customized “insurance-as-a-service” smartphone apps for vehicles and autonomous-driving technologies.
• Omniscience provides underwriting and capital modeling systems that operate on the company’s analytics platform for insurance and financial service companies.
• Supermoney is developing a “digital wallet” that allows for quick and secure in-store and online payments.
• Wrisk USA allows its customers to manage different types of insurance through a single app that helps them to better understand rates and what they can do to reduce risks.