Daniel Sawko

New Report ‘Scaling UK Regional FinTech’ Surveys Non-London Scaleups, Revealing Strategies for Growth Janine Hirt, CEO of Innovate Finance, said: “We are delighted to partner with Whitecap and Streets Consulting on this important piece of research providing insightful advice from FinTech scale ups and recommendations for policy-makers. The report tells the inspiring story of FinTech innovators across the UK, showing their incredible contributions and determination to grow successful businesses and drive so much positive change for a more democratic, transparent and inclusive financial services sector that benefits both consumers and businesses alike.” https://lnkd.in/eQHeur94 Streets Consulting Julia Streets Whitecap Consulting Julian Wells #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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💷🇬🇧 Fintech remains the UK’s most heavily funded sector, with standout investments in companies like Monzo Bank and Moneybox. Healthtech followed closely, with London-based femtech startup Flo raising $200 million, marking Europe’s first femtech unicorn. Other key segments drawing investor attention in 2024 include generative AI and autonomous mobility. 📈 From AllFocal Optics (formerly Lark Optics) to Scalpel AI and Diffblue, the UK has seen some notable funding rounds recently. Here, we present a roundup of the latest UK startup funding activity that may pique your interest. 🤖 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eMFjG7aA Hometree - Simon Phelan autone - Adil Bouhdadi, Harry Glucksmann Cheslaw CULT MIA - Nina Briance iGent AI - Sean Ward, Martin Szummer Auquan - Chandini Jain, Shubham Jain GridBeyond - Michael Phelan, Richard O' Loughlin Mindtech Global Limited - Steve Harris Birl - Cam McGimpsey, Peter Lydon Anam.ai - Caoimhe Murphy, Ben Carr Definition Health - Sandeep Chauhan, Rosie Scott #tech #funding #news #UKtech #fintech #UKstartup #VC #womenintech #fundinground #technology #startup #investment #innovation

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Norfolk fintech sector could be worth £100m – but funding remains ‘limited'. ❗️ The East of England county is home to 24 fintech companies that have collectively raised £49m in investment, a report commissioned by advocacy group Tech East has found. It found that Norwich, the largest city in Norfolk, is the main driver of economic and fintech growth in the county. Between 2010 and 2021, Norwich recorded the highest growth in real output per hour of all UK cities at 2.3%. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dbvBd5FH 🔗 #techhubs #funding #fintech #investment #report #growth #UKtech

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Building on the recent 'Scaling UK Regional FinTech' report, our Practice Lead Andrew Dunn looks at how each region within the UK is acting as a FinTech accelerator in its own right. Read the blog: https://lnkd.in/dwdz9jvb #FinTech #Scaleup #IFGS2024 #RegionalFinTech #Research

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📈 Primary Portal, a fintech innovator focused on digital infrastructure for equity capital markets, has raised €8.9m (£7.5m) in Series A funding. This investment round was spearheaded by @DB1 Ventures, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Börse Group, with contributions from Dutch Founders Fund and Flow Traders. Founded in London, Primary Portal plans to use this funding to enhance its services by linking asset managers' order management systems with banks, enabling seamless straight-through processing in capital markets transactions. The company currently serves 90 banks and 400 institutional investors, and will further expand its analytical data solutions to provide cutting-edge AI-driven analytics. John Bentinck van Schoonheten and Ilan Leshem, the founders, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration with Deutsche Börse, highlighting its role in advancing connectivity and digitization in the capital markets. With more investors expected in a second close later this year, Primary Portal is set to revolutionize how digital solutions are integrated into market operations. #Fintech #CapitalMarkets #Investment #DigitalTransformation #PrimaryPortal #AI #Analytics #TechNews #EquityMarkets #Innovation 📊🌟 Read more: https://lnkd.in/dkVH455r

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🎉 2024 has been a year full of excitement about #SEIS, but especially one story stood out: Onfido’s acquisition by US payments giant Entrust – a huge win for the UK startup scene, and also the SFC Angel Network, which has seen investors making returns of 100x. Back in 2012, Husayn Kassai, Eamon Jubbawy, and Ruhul Amin secured seed funding following one of SFC’s first Crocodile Lair pitching events, and then incubated at SFC’s offices. Fast-forward to today, Onfido has grown significantly and has exited in what has become one of the biggest UK tech exits to date, earning it the ‘Exit of the Year’ title at the UK Business Angels Association Awards. Husayn has since become an investor in SFC Capital’s funds himself and already raised the pre-seed round for his new business – Quench.ai . The edtech platform helps companies empower and upskill their workforce – lessons Husayn learned during his time at Onfido. This shows the power of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme in backing early-stage founders, but also the significance of platforms like Home Grown Club and Home House to make these rewarding connections happen. 📖 Read the full article in our blog: https://lnkd.in/gGyKkdcB #seedfunding #startupinvestment #Onfido #Entrust Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA) Capital at risk. For professional investors only. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.

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Lemon Raises £500K in Pre Seed Funding Round to Enable SMBs to Save Thousands on SaaS Spending Co-Founder and CEO of Lemon Matt Bird commented: “It’s clear that we’re going through a really interesting period for SMBs at the moment,. Taking into consideration the challenging economic landscape with funding drying up everywhere you turn, SMBs now need the tools and services to help them build better businesses as cost-efficiently as possible. With software being the third largest spend for an SMB, we really think Lemon can become a core part of how an SMB uses SaaS. https://lnkd.in/eHzkqN5v Koen Christiaens Edward Stevenson #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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Cashflows Deepens Partnership With Judopay to Offer More Businesses Access to Flexible Funding Hannah Fitzsimons, CEO of Cashflows, said: “SMEs are the backbone of the UK economy, but they often face significant hurdles accessing the capital they need to grow. Traditional funding options are rigid and slow, leaving many businesses starved of investment. “At Cashflows, we’re committed to changing that. By offering flexible, pre-approved funding through Cashflows Advance, we’re empowering businesses to invest in their future and drive economic growth. Our partnership with Judopay is a major step forward in delivering on that promise. Together, we’re building a financial ecosystem that supports the ambitions of businesses.” https://lnkd.in/d_wnzCmr Jeremy Nicholds Jessica Carroll Viki Andrews Ben Redman #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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Exciting News from Gravity! Business-to-business (B2B) banking tech startup Gravity has raised $1 million in a funding round led by early-stage venture fund Kettleborough VC. The funds will enhance our engineering capabilities to build and launch the next version of our product, delivering top-tier banking tech solutions. Founded in March 2024 by Satish Krishnaswamy and Rohit Maroo, Gravity enables interoperability among various banking software systems, allowing banks to develop customized and contextual products tailored to customer needs. “Whilst we are engaging with banks on version 1.0, we will have to start product engineering efforts for version 2.0. As a banking tech company, we need to be at least 2 to 3 years ahead of what the industry will demand,” said Krishnaswamy. Currently, Gravity has engaged with 18 commercial banks in India, completed proof of concept (POCs) with five, and is in the procurement stage with a couple more. The goal is to onboard 4-5 Indian banks this year before considering international expansion. Our focus will be on the UAE initially, with Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines as other target areas. In Europe, the UK will be our primary focus. Gravity aims to achieve an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $2 million by the end of this year. Nisarg Shah, founder and managing partner at Kettleborough VC, commented, “Gravity falls exactly in our investment strategy of backing domain specialists. We are confident in its potential to become a category-creator, solving the challenge of siloed banking systems and revolutionizing the banking industry.” #Gravity #Fintech #BankingTech #Funding #Startup #Innovation #KettleboroughVC #BankingSolutions #TechRevolution #Interoperability #B2B #Investment #Growth

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London, UK based Andrena Ventures recently first closed its Solo GP fund to back Europe’s fintech mafias 💸 €11.1 million fund backed by European founders and VC leaders, including former employer, Entrée Capital; RTP Global; Taavet+Sten; Cherry Ventures Managing Partners, Filip Felician Dames, Christian Meermann, Sophia Bendz; David Haber, Fintech GP at Andreessen Horowitz; Firat Ileri, Managing Partner at Hummingbird Ventures, among others. Final close is planned for later in the year. 💡 European fintech's at #PreSeed and #SeedStage 🌍 #Europe 📈 The first investment from the fund is Nustom, a AI-powered software-building start-up from Monzo co-founding CTO, Jonas Templestein. 💭 “Europe’s time has arrived. A new power network of founding teams has emerged out of Europe’s first generation of industry-defining companies. These teams are using their lessons and experiences to solve tomorrow’s most pressing and important problems across #fintech #climatetech #artificialintelligence and #enterprisesoftware.” - Gideon Valkin, Founder Andrena Ventures 🗞️by Stefano De Marzo EU-Startups https://lnkd.in/exdxfwcj. 👏 For the #AudaciousInvestors unleashing innovation and empowering tomorrow🚀 Gideon Valkin I Parvin Mammadov I Team Andrena Ventures … #venturecapital #vc #funds #startups #entrepreneurs #funding #tech #uk #entrepreneurship #technology #innovation #london #venture #ai

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💥 NEWCASTLE CONFERENCE 24: 2 FOR 1 OFFER IS LIVE NOW! Our Newcastle Conference 2024, hosted in partnership with strategic partners Mastercard, Invest North East England and the North East's very own Atom bank, is now just under 2 weeks away! We're delighted to announce the agenda for our Newcastle Conference 2024, which features North-East FinTech stars, regional innovators and globally recognisable brands. Here's what we've got lined up: ⭐️ How a successful challenger can level up banking and the North, delivered by Edward Twiddy, Co-Founder, Atom bank 🌎 Developing the North-East's world class FinTech cluster, learnings from across the UK, with Stephen Ingledew OBE, CEO of FinTech Scotland 🔥 UK FinTech Sector Update with Peter Cunnane, Director of National and International Initiatives, Innovate Finance 🔑 Keynotes from the Financial Conduct Authority, Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) and FDATA Global 📈 From Start-up to Scale-up: North East FinTech Success Goes Global, keynote delivered by Roger Binks, CCO, Kani ⚡️ How are we making the Northeast a world renowned FinTech cluster? - A panel discussion, featuring Aidan L., Teacher of Business and Economics, Gateshead College, Lucy Mounter, Director of Business Development and Strategy UK, Intercash, Sarat Pediredla 🦔, CEO of hedgehog lab and more tba. 💪 Building FinTech Services for Critical National Infrastructure, keynote delivered by Jessica McEvoy, Product Leader and Giles Buist, Delivery Principal, Scott Logic 🚀 Scaling Up FinTechs: A Fireside chat with Karen Zhang, FinTech Lead & VC Partnerships, Google Cloud and Oliver Cronk, Technical Director, Scott Logic 👀 Use of Payments Data in the interest of the nation: A Fireside chat with Mark Greenberg, Director of Data Science, Vocalink, a Mastercard company and Keith Lai, Assistant Deputy Director, Financial Transactions Data Research, Data Science Campus, Office for National Statistics 💥 FinPact Impact: One Year On - A Fireside Chat with Stephen Kevan, Co-Founder and CEO, FinPact and Manila McLean, NED, docStribute®️ 💰 Funding for FinTechs, with Charlotte Scott, Senior Investor Relations Manager, Innovation SuperNetwork 💡 Newcastle FinTech Showcase; featuring Keepl, Transact Trail, SPARK EPOS, Percy Crow Davis & Co, gunnercooke, Adopter (✅ B Corp), mmob, Kind Currency and more to be announced. - ⬇️  GET TWO TICKETS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE RIGHT NOW! OFFER ENDS 10TH JULY.  ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/ePNaRT3F #FinTechNorth #FTN #FTNNEW24

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Navigating the capital landscape can be a make-or-break challenge for startups. Our latest blog post dives deep into the world of startup funding in the UK, exploring: > The diverse funding ecosystem, from bootstrapping to VC > Government schemes that could boost your startup > Key challenges in accessing capital > Strategies to improve your chances of securing funding > Emerging trends shaping the future of UK startup finance Click the link to read the full article! 👇 https://wix.to/EI7D55M #UKStartups #StartupFunding #EntrepreneurialJourney #VentureCapital #InnovationFinance #BeYourOwnBoss #Pulse #PulseIsHere

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🗺️Get a taste of GEOLYTIX MAPP while exploring open data like never before https://lnkd.in/dXXDStY4 🍍 Grocery retail locations 💷 Bank & Building Society branches 🏡 UK Census data Not only can you visualise and interact with this data, it’s also available for download, offering endless possibilities for insights and analysis 📊 📍 A clean, user-friendly interface with intuitive icons that make navigation effortless – it's the small details our users love. 📍 This powerful tool lets you visualise and interact with data seamlessly - no downloads or installations required. 📍 Analyse demographic trends, explore retail access, and map financial services. This just gives a flavour of GEOLYTIX MAPP. 👇What else do our clients use MAPP for? ✅ Catchment analysis ✅ Demographic reporting ✅ Site feasibility assessments ✅ Importing & exporting data ✅ Setting user roles ✅ Gap analysis & identifying hotspots ✅ Territory mapping Get in contact with GEOLYTIX if you would like to find out how MAPP can help answer your location based business questions. #LocationIntelligence #OnlineMapping #OpenData

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Autumn Budget 2024: Good News for Fintech Innovation? The UK government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting innovation with a £20.4 billion investment in R&D tax credits. This is especially good news for fintech companies who are developing new technologies and processes. However, recent reforms to the R&D tax credit scheme have made the claims process more complex. It's now more important than ever to understand the rules and ensure your claim is compliant to avoid HMRC challenges. Read our latest article for insights into how the Autumn Budget 2024 impacts R&D tax credits for fintech companies: https://lnkd.in/ehrXikB6 #ResearchandDevelopment #Fintech #Innovation #TaxServices #AutumnBudget2024

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Some of the world’s most successful businesses, like Apple, Google, and Amazon, started as early-stage companies.    Investing through a venture capital trust (VCT) is one of the easiest ways for UK investors to invest in early-stage companies. In fact, VCTs make it possible to gain diversified exposure to early-stage companies while also spreading the risk across several different ones, any of which could have the potential to become a success.   Learn more about what early-stage investing is, why it matters and what investors should look for in early-stage companies - https://lnkd.in/ePCkFhyK #vct #investing #earlystageinvesting

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Want to become your own boss? Download The StartUp Kit to access all the tools and tips you need to succeed: 📚 Learn the base ingredients required for a start-up 📝 Support your idea with a plan 💸 Start making sales ➡️ https://ow.ly/aS8Q50SaJ5J Monzo Bank #StartUpUK

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💬 The Payment Systems Regulator has published its response to a call for views on the expansion of variable recurring payments (VRPs) in the UK, citing key areas such as a multilateral agreement, mandated participation and pricing. Kate Fitzgerald, the PSR's head of policy, said: "Our call for views response aims to provide the transparency around what’s needed to make sure Open Banking keeps growing, delivering new financial opportunities and services that increase choice and flexibility for consumers." Read the full story at the 🔗 including comments from Henk Van Hulle of Open Banking and Tom Burton of GoCardless. #payments #openbanking #recurringpayments #regulation #financialservices #paymentinnovation Sam Uden Samantha Boyle https://lnkd.in/epJRz--v

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