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LendingCrowd crowned Best P2P Business Lender

Edinburgh-based fintech lending platform LendingCrowd has been crowned the UK’s Best P2P Business Lender at the first ever Growth Finance Awards, held in London.

LendingCrowd, which is the only SME lender of its kind headquartered in Scotland, was recognised for its “best-in-class digital platform, transparency, as well as ample resources for both borrowers and lenders”.

Founder and CEO Stuart Lunn said: “To be named Best P2P Business Lender is testament to the significant strides we have made since our launch in 2014. LendingCrowd exists to help alleviate the funding gap facing the UK’s vital community of SMEs, and we’re delighted to have received this recognition at the Growth Finance Awards.”

The award was presented to Stuart and LendingCrowd Chief Marketing Officer Darren Cairns by Simon Bonney, partner at category sponsor Quantuma. 

The Growth Finance Awards, organised by Intelligent Partnership and hosted by television presenter Claudia Winkleman, were designed to highlight the role of the finance community in supporting the growth ambitions of SMEs across the UK. More than 300 guests attended the black-tie event, which took place on Wednesday 11 September at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.

Guy Tolhurst, Managing Director of Intelligent Partnership, said: “Just to be recognised as a finalist is a great achievement in itself, but to take home a prize is a truly impressive accolade. I look forward to next year’s event and continuing to educate growing businesses about the wide variety of financial options that are available to them.”

Since its launch in late 2014, LendingCrowd has facilitated more than 740 loans to SMEs across the UK with a total value of £65 million, with more than £15 million of lending in Scotland.

LendingCrowd has also been named as a finalist in the Impact and Investment category of the Scottish Financial Services Awards, organised by Scottish Financial Enterprise and sponsored by EY. The shortlisting is in recognition of the unique £18.75 million funding partnership that LendingCrowd has created with Scottish Investment Bank and Dutch entrepreneurial bank NIBC to fund the ambitions of SMEs across Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Sopra Steria and the University of Edinburgh launch fintech collaboration programme: Chemistry for Financial Services

On August 23rd Sopra Steria and the University of Edinburgh, supported by FinTech Scotland, launched Chemistry for Financial Services, a collaboration programme aimed at encouraging co-creation initiatives between fintech firms, technology providers, academia and established financial service companies.

Companies that have been selected to join the Chemistry programme will be co-creating and taking to market new solutions which address business challenges and improve the financial wellbeing of consumers. 

With the launch, the first two challenges have now been released. Both are focused on mortgages, making them more accessible and improving the customer experience for existing mortgage holders.

Applications are now open until September 23rd, 2019. Mid-October, shortlisted applicants will pitch their ideas to a panel of industry experts and Sopra Steria’s clients. Companies selected by the panel, will then join a design sprint at Sopra Steria’s Digilab before presenting the output to multiple clients leading to potential commercial arrangements.   

Commenting on the launch Mingaile Vaisnoraite, Customer Experience Consultant at Sopra Steria declared: 

“Our Chemistry programme is about working with Start-Ups and SME’s with strong support from FInTech Scotland and Edinburgh University to energise change and create new, innovative solutions.  This is a really exciting opportunity where we can re-imagine how financial companies interact with customers and deliver new services and products.    There is a wealth of SME and start-up talent in the FinTech sector and with FinTech Scotland and Edinburgh University we want to help them with their ambition to grow, win new business and be successful.”

Dr John Lonsdale, Head of Enterprise at Edinburgh Innovations, University of Edinburgh said:

“We are delighted to be working with Sopra Steria and Fintech Scotland to provide innovation opportunities for emerging Fintech companies. The Chemistry programme contributes towards making Edinburgh the Data Capital of Europe, encouraging company-to-University linkages, and providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to work with leading financial services companies to create innovative solutions for customers.”

To read more and apply for the programme please click here.

Autorek and the Automation Revolution

AutoRek have just announced that they had partnered with Worldwide Business Research (WBR) to generate an industry report. The report will be focusing the state of automation and data management within the financial services sector. 

The survey includes feedback from 100 individuals within the operations, IT, business change, finance and data management business functions. They were asked how automation will affect the financial services industry in the next 5-10 years.

Key findings include:

  • The majority of those interviewed are implementing blockchain, semantic data management, machine learning and automation
  • Respondents think that AI is likely to impact product development and innovation the most.
  • 46% of respondents are looking for new technologies to assist data governance. 

Investing in the Automation Revolution’ will launch at Sibos London between 23rd”“ 26thSeptember.

Money Dashboard raises £4.6m, the biggest fintech raise on Crowdcube this year

Money Dashboard‘s personal finance management platform that connects to over 70 financial institutions to help users manage all their accounts in one place has just raised £4.6m.

Additionally, existing investors Scottish Investment Bank and Calculus Capital also invested. The initial target was £1.5m, however that number was reached in just 45minutes.

Funds are to be used to build out the market leading personal finance app and triple the company’s Edinburgh-based team from 20 to 60 staff.

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, commented: 

“Money Dashboard’s vision to help people better manage their money has once again resonated with many of our investors. It’s fantastic to see an innovative business connect their community, fuel their growth and take those investors, in this case, on their journey to create a fairer financial landscape.”

Steve Tigar, CEO said: 

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have secured this latest round of funding, particularly with the backing of over 3000 people who share our vision. We are now equipped and ready to help people from every walk of life master their money.”

Kerry Sharp, Director of Scottish Investment Bank said:

“Having supported Money Dashboard from an early stage, it is great to see the business raising the funds required to implement the next stage in its growth. The FinTech sector is a key industry in Scotland’s economy and we look forward to continuing to work with the company, both from an investment perspective and through our account management support, to deliver its long-term growth ambitions.” 

Scotland’s fintechs can unlock the power of open banking

There are over one hundred fintech companies thriving in Scotland’s fintech community with a range of new start-ups, existing firms developing their fintech offers and tech-driven firms re-locating north of the border. The launch of open banking last year has played a key role in fuelling the growth of this sector and the UK as a whole is now recognised as a world leader in open banking innovation. 

So far, much progress in open banking has been made in the small business environment where innovative products and services are already in the marketplace such as tools for monitoring cash flow and accessing finance. An important contribution to this innovation was the first Open Up Challenge in 2017 and 2018 ”“ spearheaded by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and run independently by Nesta Challenges. The Challenge was part of the CMA’s package of measures introduced to stimulate competition in the financial sector and help small businesses save time and money, find better services, reduce stress and discover the intelligence in their financial data. Winners included fast-growing fintech brands such as Swoop, Funding Options and Coconut whose products are frequently used by freelancers and small businesses across Scotland. However, as important as it is, the small business space is just the start of the open banking revolution.

When we consider the consumer market, while there are products that are already in use it’s fair to say that take-up has not yet been widespread – especially in light of research showing UK consumers stand to gain £12bn a year from open banking-enabled services[i]. Awareness of open banking is still low, with new research from Nesta Challenges showing that 55% of people in Scotland have not heard of it. 

On the other hand, 46% of Scottish people say that they want to feel more in control of their finances and 33% want personalised information and guidance to help them manage their finances. For people in Scotland the two biggest benefits of using an open banking enabled product are seen to be: saving money and finding better deals. These findings present big opportunities for those fintech companies and start-ups in Scotland developing open banking-enabled innovations for consumers.

That’s why Nesta Challenges, in partnership with Open Banking Ltd, has launched the Open Up Challenge 2020 – a £1.5m prize fund to encourage fintech innovators to create solutions that will help people to make more of their money.     

With Open Up 2020 we want to attract breakthrough innovations designed to support hundreds of thousands of people ”“ particularly the most vulnerable. We’re looking for fintech innovators that can unlock open banking’s potential to change the way that the UK manages its money ”“ especially for the 15.2 million who regularly run out of money each month.

Open banking represents a genuinely new way of empowering people with their data ”“ it is a key milestone on the journey to a digital economy, and the Open Up Challenge has an important part to play in encouraging people to make their data work for them. Open Up 2020 will not only help people better manage their money and take control of their data, but it will also support Scotland’s growing and thriving fintech sector by fast-tracking innovative new products and services. Applications for Open Up 2020 are open until October 2nd2019 and guidance on how to apply can be found at https://openup.challenges.org/apply/. In addition, the Open Up 2020 team will be holding office hours at Codebase, Edinburgh on Thursday 12thSeptember ”“ book your slot hereto benefit from tailored application support from the Open Up Entrepreneur-in-Residence Sarah Tierney.

[i]Consumer Priorities for Open Banking 2019

Scotland Fintech Festival 2019 announced

Scotland’s Fintech Festival will welcome guests from around the world with its focus on new financial innovation and inclusive collaboration opportunities 

FinTech Scotland has confirmed the Festival will take place over three weeks in September (between the 9thand the 27th) celebrating the nation’s thriving fintech community and economy.  

Building on the huge success of last year’s impromptu community driven Festival, this year’s activities will see over fifty events ranging from meet ups, conferences, networking and social activities.

The events include a number of showcase events such as the FinTech Summit at Dynamic Earth, the FinTech Awards evening and the FinTech Future conference at University of Strathclyde

Other events organised by the community will be up and down the country from Glasgow to Fife, Edinburgh to Dundee, Stirling to Aberdeen and Inverness 

Events can be seen on www.scotlandfintechfestival.com

This year will attract a large international delegation with FinTech Scotland working closely with Scottish Development International and the Department for International Trade. 

FinTech Scotland was able to announce today that most European fintech hubs will be in attendance, and that delegations from the US and Asia will also attend the festival. 

Stephen Ingledew, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland said: “I am very excited about this year’s Fintech Festival with its global appeal and engagement. We are building on last year when the impromptu festival was born out of real collaboration and inclusion with many participants and organisations coming together to create something very special. This year, even more organisations have put their hands up to participate. This is a real testament to the fact that the fintech scene across the country is vibrant and inclusive, welcoming people and enterprises to Scotland from around the world” 

Graham Hatton, Team Leader, Inward Investment at Scottish Development International said: “International interest in Scotland’s Fintech community has never been higher. In the 12 months following last year’s Fintech festival, firms from London, Hong Kong and California have established operations in Scotland to support their growth, attracted largely by a domestic workforce with a deep understanding of Financial Services and expertise in areas including Data and Artificial Intelligence.”

Rory Archibald, Head of Association & Sectors at VisitScotland Business Events said; “We are thrilled to be supporting the fintech community here in Scotland for a 2ndyear to help promote this thriving sector to the world. Fintech Festival is testament to the positive outcomes of collaboration between many organisations. The goals of the fintech sector and indeed the Scottish Government to promote social change, inclusive growth and inward investment can be achieved by bringing people together to realise the news ideas that will drive fintech forward.’

Interview with Revolut – Challenger bank set to disrupt business banking

We spoke with James Gibson, Senior Product Owner at Revolut to speak about how the company is looking at disrupting the business banking sector.

We hear a lot about disruption in banking but that’s very often for consumers, do you expect the same happening to Business Banking?

Consumer experience has always been at the centre of disruption and as long as there are innovations or improvements that can be made to that in any industry –  they will continue to be disrupted. Business banking is no different. Rubbish exchange rates, hidden fees and lengthy on-boarding times are issues we’ve already been able to solve and now we’re working on delivering innovative solutions to our business customers.

How would you rate the state of business banking at the moment in terms of experience and offering?

Products and services can always be better. What we can comment on is the surge of start-ups in the space – that just means there’s so much work to be done. Everyone is working to solve fundamental problems and deliver the basic solutions but soon we’ll see start-ups experiment with niche features and thats what will be exciting to watch.

How do you hope to change this at Revolut?

 We’ve already impacted thousands of businesses across Europe by helping them with massive savings on exchange rates and avoiding any hidden or confusing fees. We’re now looking at building a one stop shop so that businesses can do almost everything in one place. For example, expense management with even more accounting tools to add to Xero and FreeAgent and even looking into launching acquiring in the near future.

Are there other examples around the world of companies who got it right according to you?

There are a lot of start-ups around the world disrupting industries and changing the way businesses and consumers think about product experiences. Companies like Uber, AirBnB, Apple have customer experience at the core of what they do and that’s a philosophy that we share as well. Of course, it is difficult to pin-point any companies that are doing everything perfectly which is great because it shows that even these established companies recognise the importance of continued progression and disrupting their own processes.

What does the future look like for business banking?

Bright and with lots of Revolut cards! Our vision remains similar to the quest we embarked on 4 years ago: ease of use for clients, automated processes where possible, fair and transparent pricing and technological developments that directly impact the finances of any business in any industry. We’ve done well on all of these points so far but we have much more to do!

What’s the next functionality you’re exciting about pushing to the market?

We’re super excited about the work that we’re doing around acquiring and we’re hopefully going to make some major announcements in the next year. We also listen closely to the feedback of our existing 100k+ businesses clients and it’s clear that UI and even more control over company spending are key topics so we will have some exciting updates on this area soon!

LendingCrowd and Brismo to enter partnership

Scottish fintech LendingCrowd, has just announced a partnership with Brismo to provide detailed and independently verified investment performance metrics.

Brismo provides lending performance data using sophisticated loan information to analyse and verify returns. Investors are able to access like-for-like analysis. This is a fantastic addition to the LendingCrowd platform which will allow investors to compare the performance of the LendingCrowd loan book alongside other fintech lending platforms.

Commenting on the partnership, Mike Allan, Director of Operations, LendingCrowd, said: “We are proud of our track record and believe in enabling transparency so that investors can compare performance across the lending sector. LendingCrowd has made great strides in scaling the business while remaining committed to robust credit processes and responsible lending.”

 

Rupert Taylor, founder and CEO, Brismo, added: “We are delighted that LendingCrowd is the latest leading platform to join Brismo and we look forward to helping illustrate the company’s impressive track record to investors. LendingCrowd is scaling its operations and diversifying its funding base at an impressive rate, so we are confident that this new partnership is a win-win for all parties.”

 

Brismo’s platform provides detailed loan book analysis, including loan origination figures, risk bands of borrowers, term and interest rate of outstanding principle and independently verified data on the arrears and default rate. Brismo data on LendingCrowd can be segmented and downloaded easily by investors.

Discover SDI’s Fintech Export Programme

If you’re a Scottish Fintech company with a great product or service offering and you have the drive, commitment and tenacity to expand into overseas markets you might want to sign up for Scottish Development International’s Fintech Export Programme, where you’ll be guided through both the essential, and advanced, requirements of doing international trade.

To help you succeed, they’ll guide you through producing a robust International Action Plan to drive your company’s growth in 2019 and beyond.

Over the course of the Programme they’ll cover all necessary topics to ensure you’re well-prepared to exploit new market opportunities and compete

on the international stage.

 

What’s in it for me?

  • Help and resource to develop your own international action plan to implement into your business
  • A step-by-step guide to develop insights into key topics such as:
    • Profiling International Clients
    • Understanding International Market Requirements
    • Identifying your Business Model / Route to Market
    • Developing an Export Plan
  • Plus, it’s the ideal setting to network with other like-minded Scottish businesses

 

What will I learn?

  • How to effectively research and exploit international opportunities
  • What market entry options are right for your business
  • Next steps for your business

 

Who’s it for?

If you’re a Fintech company (or a tech company with Financial Services customers) based in Scotland and you’re interested in growing internationally, then Export Workshop is a good place to get started. It’s fully funded and open to all businesses, except for intermediaries or suppliers of international trade services.

 

When and Where?

Tue 20th August 2019

Fintech Export Programme (click on link to register)

EDINBURGH – Scottish Enterprise, Apex 1, 99 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5HD

Time: 09:30 ”“ 17:00

You can also view these via www.scottish-enterprise.com/events. Scottish Enterprise’s Preparing to Export Programme is fully funded to Scottish companies and is part funded through the European Structural and Investment Funds (Investing in a Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Future). You should note that this support is a form of state aid, and on attendance it will count towards your overall De Minimis allowance (Please see event page for a breakdown of De Minimis levels)

 

Scottish fintech Sustainably launches a new way giving

Sustainably is launching today at the Fundraising Convention in London.

The company offers a new way of giving to charities they care about without having to think about it, just by living their lives.

Sustainably is rounding up its users’ cashless transactions. The spare change is donating to the causes they care about, aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In an increasingly cashless society, it will unlock a new income stream for charities and enable supporters to see the difference they’re making instantly.

Inspired by Tom’s Shoes, Pokemon Go and Acorns Investing, Sustainably won the WeWork Creator Awards and is a top 10 Virgin Startup, with both global brands set to help Sustainably’s growth.

Speaking of Sustainably, Richard Branson said: “Sustainably is so simple, but effective, which most of the good ideas are. I loved the simple idea of rounding up everyday transactions and giving your spare change to chosen good causes. Sustainably is a great example of why I wanted to start Virgin StartUp in the first place – I knew there were entrepreneurs with good ideas who just needed a little support who could go on to achieve incredible things and have a positive impact on the world.”

Sustainably launches connected to 10 local and national charities, including British Heart Foundation, and will be adding new charities daily when it officially launches on 1 July.

Speaking of Sustainably, Simon Gillespie, CEO of British Heart Foundation said: “At the BHF, we’re continuously innovating to ensure our supporters have opportunities to donate to us in ways that fit in with their busy everyday lives. Innovation and the use of technology has been core to many of the breakthroughs we’ve made to improve treatments for heart and circulatory diseases, and we need to take this same cutting-edge approach to raising funds and building relationships with our supporters.

“Our partnership with Sustainably is a fantastic example of this approach in action. It will make supporting our research possible in the swipe of a finger as part of millions of transactions ”“ something that’s completely new. While the individual amounts might not seem like much, many small donations could add up to big breakthroughs in finding new treatments for conditions including heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia. We’re excited to see what this new way of fundraising has in store.”

Loral Quinn, co-founder and CEO of Sustainably explains: “We’re excited to launch our technology that makes doing good something you can do easily, everyday.”

Sustainably links to people’s bank card rounding up on their behalf. It’s also very easy easy to see impact of donations thanks to a new form of impact messaging between charities and supporters to help inspire engagement and trust, by providing an instant impact update.

The team at Sustainably is 8 staff strong with plan to grow in the next year as they target business donations.

The charity donations market is estimated at more than £12 billion in the UK per year.

Founded by mother and daughter team, Loral and Eishel Quinn, Loral, CEO, was head of digital marketing and strategy for Aberdeen Asset Management, where she set up the global digital team and helped scale the business from 6 to 30 countries in 10 years. Eishel, Chief Product Officer, has a background in ethical retail, working with Neal’s Yard Remedies. Eishel was recently named one of Digital Leaders top 10 Young Digital Leaders.