Previse named as one of the hottest fintechs in Europe
Previse, the global instant supplier payments decisions company with an office in Glasgow, has been recognised as one of the hottest fintechs in Europe by Fintech50 at an exclusive ceremony in London on Wednesday 20 June.
The Fintech50 is a prestigious list of the top fintech companies in Europe, chosen by an expert panel of leaders from around the world, representing investors, financial organisations, global techs and innovation leaders. Previse was selected from over 1,800 fintechs from all over Europe.
In choosing the final 50, the judges look for companies with a track record as well as growth potential for the future. The list included Revolut, the retail FX company which this year was valued at over £1 billion, as well as a number of well-known fintechs serving institutional investors.
This is the latest in a year of positive announcements for Previse. The company opened a new Glasgow office in October 2017, secured R&D funding from Scottish Enterprise and appointed business heavyweights David Tyler, Chairman of Sainsburys, and British Land Chairman, John Gildersleeve, to its advisory board. It also announced partnerships with the leading provider of digital supply chain solutions, Virtualstock, and social enterprise, Auticon.
Earlier this month, co-founder and CEO of Previse, Paul Christensen, was appointed to Innovate Finance and City of London Corporation’s Fintech Strategy Group. The group has been tasked with driving the success of the world-leading UK fintech sector.
Paul Christensen, CEO and co-founder of Previse said: “We are pleased to be included in this prestigious list of the hottest fintechs in Europe. Being selected out of a pool of 1,800 companies is strong validation of the importance of the slow payments problem we’re solving, how we’re solving it, and our tremendous team.
“Slow supplier payments are damaging the world economy. Every year hundreds of thousands of businesses which are fundamentally sound, creating good jobs and with potentially transformative ideas and products close purely as a result of their cash flow challenges.
“Previse solves this problem by enabling corporate buyers to pay suppliers of all sizes, instantly, making slow payments a thing of the past. We use hundreds of millions of data points and sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms to provide a score of a corporate buyer’s likelihood to pay the invoice. This allows funders to instantly release funds to the supplier to meet the invoice. Suppliers get cash on delivery. Widespread adoption of InstantPay will have a major positive impact on the economy.”
Previse’s expansion in Scotland. Interview with the Chief Product Officer
Earlier this month we received some great news from Previse. The B2B payment decisions start-up managed to secure £800k R&D grant from Scottish Enterprise in order to to set up an new development centre in Glasgow, creating 37 new data science jobs.
FinTech Scotland spoke with David Brown, Previse’s Chief Product Officer to understand the decision process that lead to the firm’s move this side of the border.
How did Previse come about?
We identified that current solutions to financing trade finance assets involved too much process change and this change more often than not would lead to the demise of payments in the supply chain as most focused on the Top suppliers i.e. the 80/20 rule. The majority of any major corporate spend is with the top 100-200 suppliers, the remainder [referred to as tail spend] can involve thousands of smaller suppliers more often than not most SME’s would fall within this segment. Previse identified a huge gap in the current market offerings and their failure to address this segment and have now developed a solution specifically to address SME payments within the Global Supply chain using, with virtually no process change to deploy.
Why did you choose Scotland to establish your new base?
After meeting with the Scottish Enterprise, Datalabs and the university professors, we came to the conclusion that the right building blocks are being put in place to address the skills gap that is required to enable a digital world and from there a fintech solution.
And why did you choose Glasgow specifically?
This was perhaps the hardest of the decisions but based on the fact the JPM, Barclays and MS have their operations in Glasgow, helped in our final decision.
Where would you like to see improvements in the Scottish fintech proposition?
Fintech in our opinion involves several key ingredients; technology, liquidity and legal without this it could become just tech. It is important that whilst we challenge the use of new technologies, we also challenge our legal frameworks and boundaries to ensure the asset is attractive for finance. Active collaboration between all parties is necessary and should be without conflict as the outcome benefits all.
In your opinion what is the biggest challenge Scotland is facing when it comes to becoming one of the leading fintech hubs?
References. We need strong case studies as change is hard but once you get through the inertia of change it becomes the norm. Scotland must collaborate, promote and get behind platforms, to generate the need and desire for talent, after all this is a new world with new challenges but also amazing opportunities to build world class talent and present a showcase of successful reference accounts to build upon.
Can you tell us about some exciting developments at Previse?
We are in the final stages of some major announcements both in partnerships and in client adoption and are busy hiring in Glasgow to support our growth. Partnering is key to Previse as we have built an enabler and each partnership we announce confirms our strategy and validates our vision.
You told us previously you’d like to spend more time in Scotland. What are the thing you enjoy doing/visiting when you’re up here?
Now I am here after working away for close to 30 years, I am looking up and finding everyone that meant something to my life and growing up, so catching up with neighbours, school and work friends and ex work colleges etc. is top on my agenda.
Are you planning on moving permanently to Scotland?
You never say never and I would like to think that is possible at some stage, I may need help with my Wife Sammi.
You told us previously you’d like to spend more time in Scotland. What are the thing you enjoy doing/visiting when you’re up here?
One of my best friends is Colin Barr who happens to own the Bierhall in Gordon Street so it would have to be that one.
What’s your favourite place in Scotland?
Loch Lomond, I have fond memories of my childhood and swimming there and also my big sister Ireney had her ashes spread there so it is now a very special place for all of us.
Bitcoin vs. Scotcoin – the Scottish cryptocurrency alternative
It’s becoming very hard to ignore cryptocurrencies. Whether you’re a cryptocoin enthusiast or a confirmed sceptic, it’s clear that they are here to stay. They might never replace traditional currencies but will have their part to play in the world of finance.
However, Caroline Wylie, at Scotcoin tells us that the rise in Bitcoin has had a profound effect on the very nature of Bitcoin. Increased transaction charges are pushing up the cost of working in cryptocurrencies – as she says: “Your cup of coffee at £3 looks rather different when it becomes £7 by the time you pay for it. Why would you pay such a high premium just to use Bitcoin as a currency? It makes smaller transactions completely uneconomic.”
Bitcoin Transaction charges
Why are the charges so high? It’s down to the success of Bitcoin. This has led to a steep increase in the number of transactions. The way Bitcoin verifies those transactions requires rewards for the miners who do the work – they get paid in Bitcoin, so the more transactions there are, the more miners are needed and transaction fees go up.
The standard charge for a transaction is 0.0005 BTC or 0.50 cents at $1,000 per BTC. This number can fluctuate depending on how fast you want the transaction to happen.
However, today, with Bitcoin over $11,000, even if the standard charge is around $3.50 it will require 99 blocks to process and confirm the transaction. 99 blocks is the equivalent of up to 17 hours. If you want the transaction to be faster you’re looking at:
0.0006 BTC or $4.20 for 15 blocks
0.0007 BTC or $4.90 for 2 to 5 blocks
The alternative – Scotcoin
Scotcoin intends to move from the Bitcoin blockchain to its own permissioned blockchain to remove the those high transaction charges and speed up how fast those transactions are confirmed. The new blockchain can deal with transactions in seconds with a cost that’s only a very small fraction of the charge one would pay with the Bitcoin blockchain. So not only is it cheaper, it’s faster making retail use of cryptocurrencies a reality.
Scotcoin has already done a small trial of using digital currencies to buy beer in the Arlington Bar in Glasgow. And initial tests on the new blockchain are producing exciting speeds. More updates soon.
About the author:
Scotcoin is a cryptocurrency established in 2014 by Derek Nisbet, a Scottish fintech entrepreneur. It currently operates on the Bitcoin blockchain using the Counterparty protocol and has a market value of $25 million USD placing it in the top 200 of global crypto currencies as measured by the USD value.
In 2016 all intellectual property associated with Scotcoin was acquired from Nisbet by Scottish fintech investors, David Low and Temple Melville.
The investors’ desire is for the Scottish Government to adopt Scotcoin as the country’s unofficial crypto currency. It is acknowledged that currency is not a devolved responsibility whilst Scotland remains part of the UK. Scotcoin could only become an official currency if Scotland was independent of the UK or current legislation was changed.
Blockchain breakthrough for Strathclyde Business School
Another breakthrough from the Strathclyde Business School in collaboration with the National Physical Laboratory, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TMX), and consultancy firm Z/Yen. They managed to timestamp financial stock trades with an atomic clock.
Over 20 million transactions were timestamped by The Atomic Ledger’ project during three hours of trading.
Director of the Strathclyde’s Centre for Financial Regulation and Innovation, Daniel Broby and his team will now analyse the results.
Mr Broby said: “The role of distributed ledgers and precision timing is becoming ever more relevant as Fintech companies adopt blockchain for financial transactions.
This is an exciting trial that will have real world policy impact.
It is at the cutting edge of both finance and technology, helping make money payments over the internet cheaper, faster and more efficient.”
Different processing speeds, server capabilities and execution code are today leading to orders arriving at a market place at different times.
However, current regulatory guidance implies that trades need to be recorded in microseconds (a millionth of a second).
The Atomic Ledger’ project test went beyond microseconds. The Project was able to provide nanosecond resolution.
It is believed the results will provide a benchmark to incorporate the concept of timing into financial asset price discovery.