THE GENESIS OF NEOCOVA
AND Our Mission...
Years before Neocova opened its doors, the three co-founders (Kelsey Weaver, Lindsay Lockhart & Sultan Meghji) were all on journeys that —unbeknownst to them at the time—would create the perfect building blocks for a community bank-focused fintech.
Kelsey Weaver spent years as publisher of Bank Director magazine—the leading information resources for C-Suites and directors of U.S. banks—before narrowing her focus to the relationships between tech companies and community banks. She did this through the founding of FinXTech and her consulting firm Empact Innovation, both of which sought to improve the dialogue and understanding around bank and fintech partnerships.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Lockhart was working on building and implementing strategic digital experiences at global brands like Bacardi, Monsanto, True Refrigeration and The Wine Group. She had co-founded Apiary + Co, a marketing firm specializing in brand identity and digital experiences. Through her research at Apiary + Co and her time as COO of market research firm Hatch, Lindsay became fascinated with how to provide leading digital experiences to industries typically lagging in this area, including traditional financial services.
Thousands of miles away, Sultan was using his 25 years of experience building tech solutions in finance and biotech to improve financial services in Africa and other emerging markets. Working with fintech firms and central banks, Sultan was helping create peer-to-peer banking solutions to support underserved areas – a project that eventually resulted in greater access to banking services across Africa and central Asia. Having the opportunity to implement leading edge technology solutions overseas made him excited about the possibilities for community banks back home.
After returning to the United States, Sultan connected with Lindsay and Kelsey, and it quickly became apparent that all three shared a common vision of helping community banks, whether through better technology, better connections or more modern digital experiences. Together, they began examining the banking sector in the United States and the technology issues at community banks specifically. This included spending time with banks, bank investors, regulators and various state and national trade and media organizations to get a full picture of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Armed with this knowledge, they decided to combine their relational, digital and tech expertise to build a company focused on three areas:
- Getting the technology and digital experience at community banks up to modern levels
- Presenting a fairer and more cost-effective business model
- Shortening the innovation cycle for community banks
OUR MISSION
Helping Financial Institutions Serve Their Communities
Neocova believes that when local banks and credit unions thrive, the communities they serve prosper. For many community banks, a combination of increased competition from big banks and fintechs, steep regulatory costs and out-dated core banking technology is making it nearly impossible to offer competitive products and services to their customers. Accordingly, our mission is not simply to build great technology—though we are doing that—but to add direct value to main street communities by supporting their financial institutions. By removing restrictive contracts and offering modern, secure and affordable technology, we enable community banks to operate more efficiently and effectively. This means our customers can offer the same products and services as their competitors, but with the added value of their deep-rooted knowledge and connections in the communities they serve. Helping communities thrive is our mission, and that is exactly what we are going to do.