Polydigi Tech selected as UK’s Most Innovative Cyber Security SME
Polydigi Tech, the Edinburgh based cybersecurity startup, was selected along with 14 other SMEs as the UK’s Most Innovative Cyber Security SME in the sixth competition held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in collaboration with Inforsecurity Europe.
Polydigi Tech is the only Scottish company among the winners. After ranking 12th in BusinessCloud’s Scotland Tech 50 for 2020, Polydigi Tech is now ready for the UK market.
This year’s record number of applicants were judged by three industry experts: Innovate UK’s Deputy Challenge Director Agata Samojlowicz CISSP, Global Transatlantic CEO Andy Williams, and Infosecurity Magazine Editorial Editor, Eleanor Dalloway.
Polydigi Tech is being offered the chance to exhibit at the DCMS Innovation Zone during Infosecurity Europe 2021 on July 13th-15th in Olympia, London. This opportunity will allow Polydigi Tech to demonstrate its world-class innovation identity authentication solution for EU market expansion.
Not boring! Creative! And inclusive!
What does the future of fintech look like’ is a question we’ve been asking across the FinTech Scotland cluster all week. One very wise comment asked us to consider the question differently What should the future of fintech look like’?
From all the discussion so far, there are two comments that have struck a chord with me. It will not be boring’ and We need to teach the future’.
The range of possibilities is limitless and there’s no doubt the consensus so far is that it can help us advance the digital economy in a number of ways, all the while enabling financial inclusion and helping us drive towards our net zero goals.
It will not be boring!
Enabling this future is a skilled workforce drawn from a broad talent pool and range of experiences. We have work to do to support the development of those skills but continuing to develop fintech for the future will need a team of creative artists and designers working with software developers, regulatory and legal expertise, who have access to cybersecurity expertise, data specialists, linguists, psychologists and more.
It provides a true opportunity for collaboration, partnership and change, and it creates an environment for innovation and creativity that builds trust through customer centred design with robust privacy and security.
The innovation will take us in different directions. We see new examples of that everyday especially when it comes to things like digital and crypto currencies, or the future of payments two key topics in the recent FinTech Scotland podcasts.
We need to teach the future!
As we think about the role of digital technology and FinTech for the future a broadly unanimous view is that our children are one step ahead and are already embracing it. Fictional digital currencies like Minecoins, Simoleons, Life Points, and others are well understood by the next generation.
As FinTech for the future develops, many of those contributing views want to see how it can deepen future generations understanding of financial services to build future personal financial resilience. Many more are hoping that we embrace the opportunity to encourage more girls, women, Black, Asian, Ethnic and other minorities into the industry.
The opportunity to excite and intrigue more of the next generation about fintech and technology is already here and the stories we tell now will help us build and teach our future.
Zumo, Leutheria, Nude, Sonik Pocket, Sustainably, Qpal, Guiide, Airfunders and Visible Capital are just a few of the Fintechs in the FinTech Scotland community that are shaping future stories to inspire us all.
If you have a view on What the future of FinTech should like like’ please get in touch. I’d love to hear it.
Paysend Sets Sights on Global Expansion
Paysend, the international payments platform, has announced a $125m Series B funding round, which will help contribute to funding its global expansion plans.
“This $125m B Round investment will allow us to take our platform to the next stage, innovating and expanding geographically to target the $133tn opportunity in cross-border payment flows,” Ronnie Millar, CEO of Paysend said.
“Paysend’s vision is to develop the next generation integrated global payment ecosystem for consumers and SMEs. Our innovative technology is connecting 12bn cards worldwide to pay and send instantly anywhere, anyhow and any currency ”“ we call this Money for the Future.”
Led by One Peak, the funding round had additional input from Infravia Growth Capital, Hermes GPE Innovation Fund and existing Silicon Valley-based investor Plug and Play.
“There remain significant barriers to entry for consumers and SMEs to pay and send money globally; our platform aims to democratise the service by providing a one-stop-shop to pay and send money to families, suppliers, employees and partners in any currency anywhere in the world at a significantly reduced cost,” Millar went on.
It’s Paysend’s global network of banks, international and local payment systems that allows its customers to send money online from any location in any currency.
“We are excited by Paysend’s enormous growth potential in a massive market, benefiting from a rapid acceleration in the adoption of digital payments,” Humbert de Liedekerke, Managing Partner at One Peak, added.
“In particular, we are seeing strong opportunities as Paysend moves beyond consumers to serve business customers and expands its international footprint to address a growing need for fast, easy and low-cost cross border digital payments.”
In the past four years, the payments fintech has grown to more than 3.7 million consumers across 60 countries.
AutoRek nominated for duo of awards
AutoRek, the leading software provider to global financial service firms, has been shortlisted for the Best CASS Solution’ and Best Wealth Management Solution’ categories at the Systems in the City Financial Technology Awards 2021.
This isn’t the first time AutoRek has won the Best CASS Solution award, after winning the title last year – the first time the award ceremony has been held virtually in its 18-year history.
Lyn Canavan, Head of Marketing at AutoRek, commented, “We are delighted to be recognised again as a provider of the Best CASS Solution’, and also in the Best Wealth Management Solution’ category by the Systems in the City Financial Technology Awards judging panel ”“ this is testimony to the team’s continued hard work in consistently striving to offer superior solutions.”
Goodacre, a specialist business and technology consultancy, organised the awards as an endorsement for suppliers of systems and services to the regulated financial services sector, with three independent judges overseeing the selection prciess.
The Awards provide an important point of reference for user firms assessing the suitability of their operational infrastructure
Innovations in the world of payments
Season 1, episode 5
Listen to the full episode here.
The world of payment is being disrupted like never before, accelerated, in part, by the recent economic and societal changed imposed by COVID19.
Contactless payments, rise in online transactions coupled with increased concerns around fraud and cybersecurity mean that the sector is undergoing some unprecedented changes.
In this episode we explore what those changes mean in terms of innovation and from a regulation perspective with 3 fantastic guests:
Genevieve Marjoribanks, Head of Policy and ExCo member at Payment Systems Regulator
Myles Stephenson, Chief Executive at Modulr
Brian Coburn, CEO at Br-dge
Q&A Lynne Darcey Quigley, CEO of Know-it
Lynne thank you for your time. Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Of course. Having worked across several credit management roles for over 25 years, I have gained a wealth of knowledge and completely understand the importance of a healthy cash flow for businesses and the implications late payers and bad debtors can have on businesses of all sizes and industries.
Over the years working across many different industries, I realised a gap in the market for a professional, result-driven debt recovery partner”¦.14 years ago, I set up my first company, Darcey Quigley & Co, focused on recovering overdue B2B invoices across the UK and internationally.
Darcey Quigley & Co was founded in 2007 on the belief debt recovery could be delivered differently. Specialising solely in the commercial market, we act as an extension of a company’s credit control department whenever internal processes have been exhausted. October 2018 saw me dive into my latest business venture, founding Know-it acting as the company’s CEO. The goal was to create a financial services company that makes credit management simple and easy.
Can you please give our readers an introduction to Know-it and what is the inspiration behind the platform?
Having worked within the debt recovery industry for over 25 years, I understand what the implications of late payers and bed debtors can mean for a business. Know-it has been designed to bring a fresh perspective on the credit management process. We have created an innovative, cloud-based credit management platform that seamlessly integrates with all leading accountancy packages including Xero, Sage, and more.
The inspiration behind the platform was to enable users to instantaneously credit check companies, get live data and real-time updates to monitor customer’s credit behaviour and mitigate potential credit risks. The platform also provides finance teams and business owners with a simple way to check your customers’ creditworthiness, ensure customers pay on time through scheduled reminders and customisable chaser emails, letters and SMS, helping reduce debtor days and increasing cash flow. Users can also get instant quotes to collect unpaid invoices quickly and efficiently, as well as monitoring and acquiring reports on commercial debts. The platform will make help businesses and finance teams, no matter the size, operate much more efficiently with it comes to debtors.
What challenges do you think it will address within credit management?
Know-it aims to make credit management as easy as possible. The market can be overly complicated for users and very time-consuming. Know-it addresses this problem through three core principles of Check-it, Chase-it, Collect-it.
Our pick and mix subscription option let users practice these concepts independently, giving businesses what they need when they need it most.
Check-it is a credit reporting tool that allows you to check the credit health of any business. It provides access to real-time data on prospective and current customers to help inform future business decisions. Chase-it streamlines your credit control process, and handles all the time-consuming chaser emails, freeing up time whilst keeping Know-it customers on top of invoicing. It also allows you to send customised emails, letters and SMS to customers reminding them of when they need to make a payment. Finally, Collect-it is there when customer payments don’t go to plan. Supported by Darcey Quigley & Co, Collect-it will help recover unpaid debt while maintaining your customer relationships.
I fully believe introducing these three principles into credit management will address the gaps in the market and change the way we view the industry as a whole. I pride myself on being a student of the game, I have always studied the credit management market to see what t users are being denied. I am fully confident that Know-it fills these gaps.
It’s an interesting time to be launching a start-up, why now?
When launching any new venture there are risks involved. It certainly wasn’t my intention to launch during a global pandemic and every business needs a slice of fortune! Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity and there was a timely opening for the platform to provide an additional level of support for vulnerable businesses at a point when they needed it most.
Help from automated credit management systems has conventionally been out of reach for many businesses until now. I have complete confidence Know-it will offer organisations a complete and all-inclusive solution enabling them to work smarter. As the pandemic continues to rip through the business community, now is a crucial time for technology to step in and offer a helping hand to those businesses most in need.
The launch of Know-it reinforces the strength of Scotland’s tech sector, what is your perception of the market?
Scotland’s tech sector continues to go from strength to strength, celebrating a proud tradition of producing creative and forwarding thinking minds.
As a nation, we have always prided ourselves on being open and vibrant, while still maintaining a strong sense of identity. A key attraction to Scotland is the unique and energetic culture, as each city boasts its own identity reflecting the pride of those who live there. Also, the living costs are substantially cheaper than other tech hubs such as London ”“ this is a huge factor for those relocating. Afterall, who doesn’t want a few more pounds in the bank every month!
Tech giants such as Google, Twitter and Microsoft have recently stated they are open to staff continuing to work from home for the future. As a result, the country has access to more fantastic talent who would otherwise have to relocate for the roles. The Scottish tech market in my opinion is in a very strong and healthy place currently and will only continue to get stronger as we move forward which is very exciting.
What do you think makes Scotland so different to other tech hubs around the world?
Scotland thrives on its strong sense of community and the tech scene up here is no different. Scotland has separated itself from the strong competition across the world by continually sharing ideas and challenging the status quo. We pride ourselves on being creative and not afraid to tackle new challenges. This is one of the key reasons for the monumental progression in the Scottish tech scene in recent years.
A second factor is an access to a highly skilled workforce. From world-class universities to magnificent third level institutions, Scotland continues to see a torrent of new talent being every year. Scotland also has CodeBase, the biggest tech incubator in the UK. This means our country is situated perfectly to continually cultivating the latest start-ups in the technology industry. The relentless development of flair and talent into the workforce in my opinion separates the Scottish tech scene from those across the world.
For someone looking to take up a career in tech, what advice would you give?
Technology is a playing field that is always transforming, and that transformation is happening quicker than ever. As an industry, a day’s work is never dull, and two days are nearly never the same. You will be given new and exciting ideas and projects to work on regularly, so you need to be ready and have an excellent mind for problem-solving. Keeping up to date with the latest trends and updates is very important and will benefit you ten-fold as you go on throughout your career. Familiarise yourself with all announcements within the market, so if you’re working on a new project that involves the latest industry innovations you can put your best foot forward. Technology is a very exciting and rewarding career, it is filled with so much opportunity and scope. The best advice I can give to anyone thinking of a career in tech is to go for it!
What is needed for Scotland to continue succeeding on the world tech scene?
The Scottish tech scene is in a wonderful place, however, with all industries, there are areas that need strengthening if we are to continue progressing.
The greatest asset the tech scene boasts is its people. These are individuals with creativity, flair and passion that have the ability to turn concepts written down on paper into reality.
Scotland has to continue producing the finest tech talent on our home soil through our universities, colleges and other initiatives, as well as attracting the best talent from overseas. The Tech Nation Global Talent Visa remains an important resource for drawing some of the sharpest minds in the tech world to Scotland and the rest of the UK. Nearly a third of individuals endorsed for the visa that is located in Scotland is a tech founder. It is clear the industry structure, combined with the strength of the community has excelled us to be a market leader. The challenge moving forward is enticing more talent from outside the United Kingdom into the market.
Crypto Wallet and Zumo Launches B2B Offering
Zumo, the crypto wallet and payments Fintech, has announced its Zumokit; crypto as a service platform.
This new B2B product targets Fintechs and other financial institutions that aim to compliantly offer cryptocurrencies to meet the demand of customers to access digital assets.
ZumoKit is a blockchain agnostic, thus enabling companies to connect to any blockchain by adopting any cryptocurrency or using their own stablecoin. This provides businesses to integrate a digital currency, allowing their customers to buy and sell digital currencies as an investment.
Commercial Director at Zumo, Eddie Robb, states that this gives businesses the tools necessary to build cryptocurrency solutions into their platforms, saving them thousands of hours of work.
“We’re working with a number of savings, remittance, and share trading apps to allow them to offer crypto to their customers. ZumoKit is a ready-to-roll solution for fintech companies and other financial institutions that want to bring the benefits of crypto to their customers. It’s a plug and play product that makes it easy to get going with crypto in a safe, secure and compliant way.”
Robb added that such a solution can be beneficial to companies, as it allows them to provide customers with the ability to trade crytocurrencies whilst also shielding the wider business from the ups and downs of the markets.
Founded in Edinburgh in 2018 by Nick Jones and Paul Roach, Zumo is available for download on both iOS and Android app stores.
Tindeco: One of the top 100 WealthTechs
For the second year in a row, Tindeco has been announced as one of the world’s 100 most innovative WealthTech companies. Tindeco VISION enables investment managers to efficiently provide customised investment solutions through the execution of highly scalable operating models.
Their featured article teaches you how they can help when it comes to implementing your investment process, as well as providing you with customised solutions just for your clients.
Fintech Innovation Roadmap to drive a digital enabled net zero economic recovery
FinTech Scotland is developing a ten-year business-led research and innovation roadmap which will support the growth of Scotland’s digital economy and development of fintech innovation across the UK.
This implements one of the recommendations highlighted in the recent Kalifa FinTech Sector Review which referenced Scotland as the second largest fintech cluster in the UK and the opportunity to build on this position through strategic research and innovation.
The roadmap will advance the FinTech Scotland Cluster in a number of ways, including
- Develop priority innovation themes such as financial inclusion, net zero and well-being
- Align research strengths and capabilities with innovation priorities and drive efficiencies
- Enhance Scotland’s national and global reputation for fintech innovation
- Shape innovation challenges and influence future Government Innovation strategies
The roadmap is being developed in collaboration with the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence (GOFCoE) and together they have appointed Whitecap Consulting to progress the initiative. The work builds on the FinTech Scotland “Research and Innovation for UK FinTech” report published in January 2021 as well as the academic-led research and innovation roadmap recently developed by the Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with regional Universities.
Nicola Anderson chief executive of FinTech Scotland said
“The roadmap will further advance and grow Scotland’s fintech Cluster and it will bring insight and specific focus to accelerate fintech Innovation. Working with Whitecap consulting and across the Cluster we will identify a suite of progressive actions that will enable positive economic outcomes”.
Kevin Collins, chief executive of the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence said
“We’re delighted to be working with FinTech Scotland and Whitecap Consulting on this roadmap and is essential to ensuring we prioritise the needs of financial and fintech businesses, including key skills gaps as well as provide an opportunity to align businesses and academics effectively.”
Richard Coates, Managing Director of Whitecap Consulting, says:
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work alongside FinTech Scotland and the GOFCoE team on this interesting project. The development of FinTech Scotland’s Research & Innovation roadmap calls for us to utilise a combination of our core strength in strategy and planning, our extensive work across the UK’s regional FinTech ecosystems, and our experience working with and connecting key stakeholders across public, private and higher education organisations.”
MBN Launches Data Science Podcast, AI Right?
MBN Solutions has today launched a new data science podcast. AI Right? is a monthly podcast exploring industry news and how this impacts data scientists.
Kris McFadyen, MBN’s Associate Director, Andy McMahon and Megan Stamper, data science experts, will be hosting the podcast with the ambition to make data science more accessible.
“With AI Right? we hope to create a show that’s easily accessible to anyone that wants to join the data science industry, while still informing industry veterans,” says McFadyen. “The industry expertise of Andy and Megan brings an extra layer to the show ”“ they’re on the frontlines and know the impacts and benefits of the topics we discuss.”
With its first episode premiering in April, the show’s roundtable format aims to be the first of its kind within the UK by bringing together both recruitment and industry expertise to aid data scientists (and anyone with interest in careers within the space) with engaging more easily within the field.
“We have an opportunity here to bring data science insight and expertise not just to industry veterans but to Scotland as a whole,” says Stamper, who has a PhD in oceanographic fluid mechanics and works as Principal Data Scientist on recommendation engines and conversational AI in media.
“Data science is thriving in Scotland,” Stamper continues, “and it has an opportunity to become a leading industry that helps put Scotland on the map as a technology and science driven nation.”
Co-host Andy McMahon, a machine learning engineer with a PhD in condensed matter physics, states that the trio wants to make the podcast as accessible as possible, to as many people as possible despite the nature and complexity of data science.
“The three of us know how complicated data science can be and with AI Right? we really focus on giving people information and commentary that’s relevant and easy to understand. We’re confident that the podcast will be as useful for chief data scientists as it will be for students and hobbyists, because the information is relevant to the whole industry, but given in a way that makes it accessible.”
Agreeing with Andy, McFadyen adds that he hopes that AI Right? will act as an encouragement for more people to join the field.
“At MBN we’re closer to the market than perhaps anyone else and what we see is a huge data science skills shortage. The industry is full of incredible people doing some extraordinary work but unless we can help and encourage more talent into the industry, Scotland is going to struggle. MBN’s MSc Placement Programme, in partnership with the Data Lab, and AI Right? are just two parts of making the industry more accessible.”
The first episode of AI Right? is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and all other major podcast platforms. You can also watch episodes of AI Right? on the MBN Solutions website.