Press release

EvoNexus Collaborating with Franklin Templeton and Royal Bank of Canada to Pursue Emerging Financial Technology Startups

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EvoNexus, Southern California’s (SoCal) leading startup incubator with
locations in San Diego and Irvine, today announced it has opened an
application round in search of early stage companies with emerging
financial technologies to admit to its new purpose built FinTech
incubator. EvoNexus, with principal founding corporate sponsors Franklin
Templeton (a global investment firm based in Silicon Valley with more
than $712 billion USD in assets) and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
(Canada’s largest bank based on market capitalization and one of the
largest financial institutions in North America with $1.3 trillion USD
assets under management), launched SoCal’s first FinTech incubator
earlier this month.

FinTech refers to a group of financial technologies that could both
empower or disrupt a number of industries. Technologies that impact
these sectors include financial transaction services software, cloud,
IoT, edge computing and 5G. More than $39 billion USD was invested
globally in FinTech in 2018 according to a report from CB Insights.

“FinTech is attracting investment from institutional investor funds,
corporate venture funds and angel investors, and this year is promising
to be one of the biggest years for the space,” said EvoNexus CEO and
Co-Founder Rory Moore. “EvoNexus’ position and timing is perfect for
launching a FinTech incubator, taking advantage of a new wave of
startups in the SoCal region and imbedded talent. Our long standing
partnership with Qualcomm puts us at ground zero with one of the most
important companies enabling the next generation 5G network that will
accelerate the ubiquitous delivery of these technologies and services.”

EvoNexus, Franklin Templeton and RBC are focused on finding and
admitting FinTech startups in the following core technology areas:
artificial intelligence/machine learning, bank/wealth/payment
technology, capital markets technology, cybersecurity, blockchain,
mobile payments, P2P lending, digital cash, InsurTech, RegTech, data
science, predictive behavior analytics and key telecommunication
enablers such as 5G, IoT and edge computing that will have an impact on
digitization of financial transactions and banking.

Moore continued, “A large part of our success begins with finding high
quality entrepreneurs with disruptive solutions timed with market need.
The talent pool of recent graduates of world class “B” schools and STEM
programs from the nation’s leading universities is ripe in our
community. Southern California has a history of companies that innovate
in FinTech going back 20 plus years ago – HNC, the pioneer of credit
card and insurance fraud detection software, FICO, that is the gold
standard in credit scoring services, and PIMCO, the world’s largest bond
trading company.”

“Our relationship with EvoNexus will enable us to gain firsthand access
to new technologies that can add value and differentiation for our core
businesses,” said Joe Boerio, Chief Technology Officer for Franklin
Templeton. “FinTech is a key driver and accelerator in our efforts to
develop new ways to use data and services to improve business outcomes
and drive investment performance for our customers.”

“Our collaboration with EvoNexus aligns with our commitment to harness
the potential of emerging technology to drive value for our
clients,” said Eddy Ortiz, Vice President of Solution Acceleration and
Innovation at RBC. “We are very excited to meet with and learn from the
startups that become part of the FinTech incubator.”

Startups that apply will be considered for admission into the EvoNexus
FinTech incubator and may be considered for collaboration opportunities
with RBC and Franklin Templeton including early business unit exposure,
technology steering, and potential Beta customer trials and early stage
funding.

For more information, and to apply now, visit EvoNexus at https://evonexus.org/apply-fintech/.
The application deadline is May 17, 2019, at 8:00PM PT.

The new EvoNexus FinTech Incubator has a dedicated 6,000 square foot
Class A office space located a few floors above its Technology and Life
Sciences Incubator office in San Diego. Startups from Los Angeles and
Orange County that are admitted will also have the Irvine office
available for their development. All office space is provided through a
long-term strategic partnership with California’s leading real estate
developer the Irvine Company.

About Franklin Templeton

Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management
organization operating as Franklin Templeton. Franklin Templeton’s goal
is to deliver better outcomes by providing global and domestic
investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth
clients in over 170 countries. Through specialized teams, the Company
has expertise across all asset classes, including equity, fixed income,
alternatives and custom multi-asset solutions. The Company’s more than
600 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide
team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network.
With employees in over 30 countries, the California-based company has
more than 70 years of investment experience and over US$712 billion in
assets under management as of March 31, 2019. For more information,
please visit franklintempleton.com.

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a
purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading
performance. Our success comes from the 84,000+ employees who bring our
vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive
and communities prosper. As Canada’s biggest bank, and one of the
largest in the world based on market capitalization with more than $1
USD trillion assets under management, we have a diversified business
model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences
to our 16 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 33 other countries.
Learn more at rbc.com.

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through
donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See
how at rbc.com/community-sustainability.

About EvoNexus

EvoNexus is Southern California’s leading startup incubator with
locations in San Diego and Irvine. We enable motivated entrepreneurs to
turn their transformative technologies into fundable,
commercially-viable companies. Since 2010, $1.6B in funding and
acquisition outcomes have been achieved by EvoNexus startups. A total of
26 EvoNexus startups have been acquired since 2013. EvoNexus is
supported by corporate investors, including some of the largest
multinational corporations in the world. Its companies enjoy incubation
of up to two years in Class A offices and dry lab spaces. For more
information, please visit evonexus.org.