jpmorgan chase co is launching a platform that aims to connect startup founders with venture capital investors to simplify the fundraising process the bank told reutersthe new platform capital connect focuses on serving the financing needs of startups from their early stages marking the ambition of the biggest us bank by assets to further expand into the private market and build a founderfriendly brand in silicon valleythe new team is run by michael elanjian head of digital investment banking and digital private markets at jpmorgan and has expanded from three to 125 people over the past two yearson capital connect startup founders can ask for introductions to investors build virtual data rooms and potentially trade their company shares on a secondary market they can use the website to fundraise as early in the process as the series a roundweve seen a secular trend over the last decade is in the growth in private capital and the private market is here to stay we want to be the onestop shop for all things private for servicing companies and investors of all sizes elanjian said in an interviewas the size of venture capitalbacked companies expanded in the past few years the race to serve the fundraising needs of founders and investors has pushed banks to build relationships earlybanks from goldman sachs to silicon valley bank to fintech players such as carta have expanded services into the private market with a focus on vcbacked startupselanjian said the platform will take advantage of jpmorgans capabilities as a fullservice bankwe believe we can differentiate ourselves in the venture market by building a scalable digital platform paired with the expertise data and relationships of our investment and private bank said elanjiancapital connect could be a starting point to digitalize more services including the investment banking business that generated billions of fees in bigticket ipos and ma deals elanjian said