Discover Ellis Accelerator for expansion into the US
Ellis Accelerator is an equity-free three-month program designed to empower international startups as they expand to the US market and become global companies. We support international B2C and B2B startups by providing them with all the resources required to scale successfully in the US – including 150+ mentors, housing and office space in NYC, workshops, $350k benefits package, and access to an exclusive community.
The program begins once a startup is accepted – we work with them prior they arrive to NYC, helping them get their visas, set up their legal US entity, and refining their US go-to-market strategy. Thus, providing the participating startups the foundation necessary to focus on strategic initiatives and generating traction in the US once they arrive in NYC.
Upon arrival, startups go through a two-week bootcamp comprised of 15+ workshops to give them a thorough understanding of key concepts vital to scale successfully in the US. Our bootcamp is comprehensive and covers everything from pitch coaching, to building a US company, to sales and more.
Startups are paired with one or two lead mentors and have access to an additional 150+ specialist mentors. Our mentors and our team work with the participating startups 1:1 throughout the program to empower them to achieve their goals.
As part of the program, Ellis provides office space in SoHo, inclusive of free rooftop event space and conference rooms. Ellis is one of the only accelerators in the world providing furnished housing for the entire duration of the three-month program – allowing the startup founders to focus on running their company, instead of searching for accomodations.
While the program is three months long, once a startup is a part of the Ellis family, they are in it for life and will always have access to our community and our benefits package worth over $350K. The Ellis community consists of 150+ mentors, entrepreneurs and investors that will enable participants to scale dramatically faster.
As the Ellis program is equity-free, there is a participation fee which covers all program components. Third parties, including governmental, educational organizations and others, may sponsor participation.
Applications for the Fall 2019 cohort are open until July 15. Startups may apply here.
Additionally, we will be hosting the Ellis Accelerator Spring 2019 Demo Day at SAP Next-Gen in NYC on July 9th. This event will feature pitches fromEllis Accelerator‘s Spring 2019 cohort,Artboost,Bearaby, and DerButton. Register here and use code “EAS19” for a free ticket.If you are in New York at that time then we hope to see you there!
Utilising the Irish/Scottish finance corridor
Blog written by Terry Quinn at the Scottish Irish Finance Initiative
The Scottish Irish Finance Initiative seeks to serve the people of both Scotland and Ireland, the companies that already work in our communities and the wider global financial services industry, whom we hope to attract to our corridor.
In our first 18 months of operations we have already created the beginnings of a common financial industry between Scotland and Ireland, emphasising the benefits of treating both places as the bridge to overcome trading barriers and as a target for new investments. The only sure-fire way that we can maintain our world beating financial industries and see off the challenge from locations such as Berlin, Paris and financial hubs in Asia, is through greater cooperation, and we are delighted that we are garnering such interest in our initiative.
Ireland and Scotland have enough in common culturally, legally and politically to make cooperation worthwhile, and enough complementary skills so as to make cooperation beneficial to both parties. We have already seen fruitful progress in the fintech sector through meetings organised between Irish and Scottish companies, considering a wide range of innovative solutions in areas such as data quality and cleansing. Our project is also driving engagement in ensuring that both locations benefit from cooperation in areas such as asset management and servicing and the creation of a more unified labour market.
Our aim with this document is to gather together into one place the resources that any company might need to mitigate any Brexit challenges, and to guide them in using the Scottish Irish corridor in their future growth plans. Already the challenge of Brexit has spurred some companies into accelerating sales programmes and to look proactively at the international options available to them.
Our hope now is that trade between Scotland and Ireland will not only continue but expand and that a proactive, pragmatic and sensible approach to Brexit difficulties can actually open up opportunities.
One of the key targets as set to us by our Advisory Group is to bring together in one document all the information that anyone interested in the Scottish Irish finance corridor would need.
The result can be found here:
http://scottishirishfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SIFI_brexit_utility.pdf
At present it’s focused on expediency in mitigating Brexit challenges but this is just the first iteration and we hope this will develop over time to become a fully fledged guide to all that our fabulous industries and companies have to offer the global finance sector and its clients and stakeholders.
Call for European fintechs to take part in Argentinian Accelerator
FinTech hub Red Link by Innsomnia is the first collaborative FinTech accelerator in Argentina.
Red Link, a network that provides financial support to more than 40 banks in Latin America, is now looking for Startups in Europe that can digitalise their services and processes.
The Fintech ecosystem in Argentina has increased by more than 80% in the past 18 months and positions itself as the fourth largest ecosystem in Latin America, shortening distances with the main markets in the region.
Innsomnia, the first fintech & insurtech accelerator in Spain is currently in its fourth edition working with Bankia, a Spanish Bank which is mentoring more than 50 startups, consequently 70% of these go on to have their solutions integrated within the bank.
Innsomnia is now looking to implement the same model in Latin America and Argentina is the first stop of this international fintech program.
The program has a duration of four months, in which the startups selected will travel to Buenos Aires for one week to meet the Red Link innovation team to define the PoC that they will develop.
After this startups can work from their home countries and continue with the mentorship programme online with no need to move to Spain or Argentina.
Innsomnia works on a B2B model, creating connections between big corporates and technological startups. At the same time Innsomnia does not ask for equity from the startups, they are free to have their own private investors.
Red Link is looking for the following startup characteristics:
- Solutions for SMEs
- Customer Relationship
- Algorithmic Trading
- Banking Technology and internal bank management
- Alternative credit scoring
- Predictive models
- Artificial Intelligence ”“ Machine learning (Voice banking ”“ Chatbots)
- WealthTech & Financial Planning
- Financial Education and inclusion
- Robotization and automation of processes
- Efficiency and management savings in internal banking
This programme can provide an opportunity to expand your business internationally and to get your project validated by an international partner.
Red Link fintech hub can be your gateaway to the Latin American market.
More information and applications here.
Global outlook #3 ”“ New Zealand ”“ Xero, Bringing great experience to accounting
This week in our Global Outlook series we spoke to Sam Daish, General Manager, Data Innovation at Xero, about the development of AI in the accounting sector:
Sam, can you tell us how your business has changed in recent years?
The fundamental change is one of scale. Xero is growing fast. So in the data space our scope to deliver innovation for customers is exploding. At the core of accounting software are products, services and functionalities to make routine accounting activity easier. Easier’ now equals automation. So our core skills around creating easy to use and beautiful products and features are being extended to include machine learning and AI, which also widens and deepens our client offering.
What has enabled this change?
Two things, data and our expertise in AI development. Data really enables us to power beautiful experience for our customers. We work closely with small businesses and our partners to create smart interactions. Machine learning is the engine that uses that data to create tailored experiences to all our customers.
We started our Machine Learning journey back in 2015 with one of our yearly hackathons called Xplore. Those events are all about freedom, fun and discovery.
During this Hackathon, our team, created a machine learning algorithm to streamline account code prediction for invoices.
Rod Dury, our founder, became really enthused by it and was quick to get resources aligned behind it. Rod often says that
“this new solution put Xero on a new pathway as we discovered a problem we didn’t even realise we had”.
The growth of expertise we have in AI today compared to three years ago is amazing to be part of.
What’s the type of problems you’ve been solving?
A good example is the development of customer data augmentation tools. In order to sign-up for Xero businesses only need an email address and an address.
Those are very often the only details we hold on the businesses of our clients. With machine learning we can augment that data automatically by looking at things such as business websites.
Our solution analyses the words used on the website and tag some attributes and areas of interest based on the language used.
For example, it is possible to derive the industry they operate in and whether they have physical shops or are purely digital businesses. That approach has kick started a range of natural language initiatives and changed the way we think about businesses.
What do you do with those data?
Well, it’s a massive lift in how we understand the businesses of our customers, and so what they might need from us. For example, many plumbing businesses are not only interested in plumbing projects. They might also need assistance with regulatory changes in the construction industry more widely.
They might have a retail shop as well as carry out design and plumbing work, so they are not only construction companies they are also retail and professional services companies. We can then develop appropriate tools for those businesses.
Can you tell us about more innovations happening at Xero?
Absolutely. Our data was telling us that small businesses didn’t have time to enter bills in our system. Following the same customer led approach we came up with the email-to-bills functionality that we previewed at Xerocon Atlanta. This optional piece of software will enable users to forward PDF bills from any supplier to their Xero account.
Our solution can recognise accounting figures, suppliers names, VAT, etc. We estimate a 25% time reduction when creating and editing a bill. And bills are just the beginning. Any automation that saves our small business owners time and improves reporting accuracy is worthwhile and worth exploring according to the Xero mentality.
Why is New Zealand a great place for financial technology companies to thrive?
The Fintech space at the moment is all about collaboration and connection – technology is moving at such a pace that you can’t focus on everything. Partnering allows you to access niche capabilities and we are seeing a lot of born from companies working together. It also doesn’t hurt having Fintech NZ pulling us together and making those connections.
Another key benefit for us is that we are able to watch and learn from what is happening in bigger markets like the UK or Australia, so that we can choose the best bits to implement in NZ and then potentially take global.<
While NZ is geographically distant from many markets, technology and diversity closes that distance very effectively. NZ really is a melting pot for so many ideas, experiences and people to come together, and technology helps connect that to the world.
Fintech Workshop – trading internationally
-
Market analysis
-
Market entry
-
How to sell online internationally
-
An insight into opportunities in Germany and The Netherlands
-
One-to-one support from SDI’s experts on key areas including trading internationally and digital marketing
-
Plus, it’s the ideal setting to network with other like-minded Scottish businesses
Fintech trade mission to Poland
Scottish Development International is helping to promote a Fintech trade mission to Poland, which the Warsaw-based DIT team is organising on 27th-29th November 2018.
Interested companies can join via the link below
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2018-uk-fintech-trade-mission-to-poland-tickets-50441104702
In brief, the programme of the trade mission will start in the afternoon on 27th November in Warsaw with expert briefings about fintech landscape in Poland. It will also include a joint reception with UK healthtech trade mission at the Ambassador’s Residence.
On 28th and 29th November, UK fintechs will be actively involved (sales pitches,1-2-1 meetings, networking) in Impact Fintech’18 ”“ the largest and most influential international fintech conference in Poland, which gathers key decision makers and influencers (including public sector) in the financial sector. The event will take place in a city of Åódź (1.5 hrs away from Warsaw).
We are expecting a UK Minister to attend the Warsaw reception and Impact Fintech’18 in Åódź.
DIT will secure for trade mission participants: transport from Warsaw to Åódź and 2 night accommodation in Åódź, where the conference takes place.
UK FinTech Trade Mission to Zurich and Vienna in January 2019
The 2nd annual UK Fintech Mission to Zürich and Vienna matches senior executives in Swiss, Liechtensteiner and Austrian banks, insurance companies and venture capital firms and the most innovative UK-registered fintech and cybersecurity start-ups to build mutually beneficial business relationships.
€30 million in signed business deals generated from the previous Fintech Missions to Switzerland and Austria.
FinTech Scotland’s Stephen Ingledew and FDATA’s Gavin Littlejohn will join the Zurich Mission.
Switzerland: a leading global centre for finance and fintech
”‹Why Switzerland? Because it is home to over 260 banks. It is also the largest global financial centre for international clients in cross-border wealth management. At the end of 2015, assets under management in Switzerland totalled £5trillion.
Why join us in Zürich? Because it ranked sixth in the 2016 Global Financial Centres Index and 2nd in Europe (after London). Because a third of Switzerland’s 260+ banks have their head offices here. Some 510 banking institutions are also represented in Zurich in one form or another. Representatives from financial institutions in Geneva will be present too. Like Zurich, Geneva is a significant global financial centre. It ranked 4th in Europe and 15th globally on the 2016 Global Financial Centres Index. Geneva’s financial centre comprises some 140 banks. It is also a major centre for asset management. All these financial institutions understand the need to provide innovative digital solutions for their customers. They eagerly await your applications!
Why Austria? Isn’t it more Mozart than Fintech?
”‹The companies which you are pitching to have an extremely high market share across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This means that, if they buy your products/services, you could immediately have a presence across upwards of 15 countries. In 2017, CB Insights ranked VC Speedinvest no. 1 most active Fintech VC in the EU, with a €100m fund dedicated to identifying the most innovative companies. Austria is a country of wealthy consumers, with GDP per capita of €38k (vs. €34k in UK). It also has the highest level of smartphone and internet access in the CEE region. The market for Fintech in Austria is projected to reach €588 million by 2020 and Fintech investments in the DACH Region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) rank 2nd in EU after the UK. Limited domestic expertise means big opportunities for UK companies to get first-mover advantage in the market. Check out our video of last year’s event below:
Apply TODAY at www.ukfintechmission.com or contact pat.kunz@scotent.co.uk for further information.
REGISTRATIONS CLOSE 31. OCTOBER 2018
Applications are open for global accelerator programme
Article written by Justine Kelly, Vice President, Technology (Americas) for Scottish Development International
MassChallenge is a global accelerator program, headquartered in Boston with additional locations in Israel, Mexico, Switzerland, the UK and Texas.
MassChallenge works with companies across all industries from anywhere in the world, focusing on early-stage companies, with zero equity taken. The accelerator itself is a 4-month program where companies receive hands-on support from top mentors and experts, free co-working space, access to MassChallenge’s network of corporate partners, tailored workshops and office hours, and the opportunity to win cash prizes.
Applications are now open for the 2019 MassChallenge’s Fintech Accelerator (to take place January-June 2019), with a close date of 12th October 2018. MassChallenge FinTech is based in Boston and is looking for industry-focused startups that have raised less than $10M in equity-based funding and generated less than $10M in revenue in the last 12 months. As part of the program, accepted companies will be provided with:
-
1:1 collaborations with industry-leading partners who will support start-ups with co-development opportunities, product validation, customer connections, strategic investments, and advisor introductions. Partners of MassChallenge Fintech include Citizens Bank, Fidelity Investments, Fintech Sandbox, John Hancock, MassMutual, and Putnam Investments, to name a few.
-
Unique opportunity to address a major challenge facing the financial services industry, as laid out by MassChallenge’s partners’ 2019 challenges
-
Extensive access to FinTech Sandbox data and resources
-
Collaborative office space located in the heart of Boston’s innovation district
-
The opportunity to win a portion of $250K in cash prizes
Global outlook #2 – Spain – TheLogicValue
-
Around 2,000 quoted stocks from 25 countries, 1,122 of which are evaluated by our analysts.
-
More Than 46,000 funds from over 40 countries.
-
Around 35,000 fixed income issues from more than 130 countries.
4th International Call by Spanish Bank Bankia
-
Solutions for SMEs
-
RegTech
-
Blockchain
-
WealthTech
-
Alternative Scoring
-
Cyber security
-
Artificial Intelligence ”“ Machine Learning