Flock selects Scottish fintech AutoRek

Scottish fintech AutoRek, just announced that Flock had joined their now extensive list of clients.

Flock is an innovative firm all about reinventing business models around insurance. They are looking to build a global, fully digital insurance company for connected commercial vehicles to mitigates risk, rather than just paying claims.

AutoRek was chosen by Flock because of its flexibility.

Flock will be using AutoRek to:

  • Automate bordereau, bank and payment reconciliation requirements
  • Calculate broker payments to generate statements to brokers and paid bordereau
  • Take various external data sources from other insurance organisations, as well as from the general ledger
  • Underpin Flock’s Insurance Broker Accounting (IBA) operations

Gordon McHarg, CEO at AutoRek, added,

“It is excellent to have Flock come on board as a new client. We are delighted to be seen as a flexible and adaptable tool to help fast-growing companies like Flock scale their business. We look forward to continuing this partnership over the coming years.”

Piers Williams, Insurance Lead at AutoRek, added,

“We are excited to work with Flock, they are disrupting the insurance industry with innovative new products. Behind their exciting business is a foundation of leading software solutions that are enabling the business to achieve its objectives. Flock will be deploying AutoRek’s bordereau reconciliation and financial control solution to deliver end-to-end automation.”

 

Fintech DirectID Raises $3m in Bridge Round

Scottish fintech DirectID just completed a $3 million (£2.2m) bridge round led by Hong Kong based venture capital firm QBN Capital. The firm grew its team and revenue by over 100% in the last year and this investment will help them pursue their ambitious growth plans and expand internationally.

DirectID has developed a market leading credit & risk platform that powers some of the world’s largest brands through the use of Open Banking data.

DirectID provides unique insights into customers’ financial situation, enabling financial institutions to have a more realistic view of credit risk and to make faster, more accurate and personalised decisions.

Based in the UK, DirectID is connected to over 13,000+ bank which represents 1.5bn users in over 45 countries.

James Varga, founder, and CEO of DirectID, said:

“We are very excited to have QBN being our lead investor. This funding step will help us grow into more markets and sectors as open banking adoption grows across the world. We are addressing a global pain with our product, redefining credit risk for consumers and businesses alike.”

Philea Chim at QBN Capital said:

“We look forward to helping DirectID expand their business to Asia. Their credit risk platform will make SME financing fairer and more accessible. We see synergies between DirectID and a number of our portfolio companies and QBN’s own initiatives, for example, in supply chain trade finance.”

UK-wide Investment Series announced by FinTech Alliance

 FinTech Alliance, the Government-backed digital ecosystem for UK FinTech, has launched its third annual Investment Series, announcing FinTech Scottland as a key partner. 

The series aims to bring FinTechs from around the UK together to learn about all aspects of a successful funding round and meet high-profile investors. 

FinTechs can: 

– Use the FinTech alliance platform for the duration, including the regulated Investment Hub. 

– Build their pitch deck with advice from FinTech leaders. 

– Network with high profile investors. 

– Learn from a series of hybrid workshops on pitching, negotiating deals and more. 

Signups are now open for the series, and the process will see a number of regional events across the UK to find the most innovative Seed and Series A FinTechs – including an event in Scotland. 

The signup deadline is 30 March, after which there will be a launch party during UK FinTech Week, with workshops running through May and a pitch day in June. 

Not ready to raise funds just yet? No problem! You can still take part in all workshops and build your network. 

We’re delighted to partner with FinTech Alliance on the series. 

Sign up here! 

For more information, email info@fintech-alliance.com 

New Chief Commercial Officer at Legado

Scottish fintech firm Legado announced it had appointed Colin McKay as its first Chief Commercial Officer.

Colin McKay has over 25 years of experience in senior roles in the UK and global banking sector.

McKay was a partner in several firms, including K Legal/KPMG Law, Eversheds, and Shepherd & Wedderburn and he also held a variety of management roles and responsibility for various key institutional accounts.

More recently, Colin spent over 5 years as CCO of Almis International  a growing financial technology company in the UK banking market, with responsibilities including both sales and account management.

Josif Grace, CEO & founder of Legado said:

“Colin understands the potential ”“ and increasing need ”“ for personal data storage within the digital experience offered by financial institutions, having worked in both the finance and technology sectors both domestically and internationally. We are delighted Colin has decided to take up this role and help us scale the business, laying the groundwork for continued success.”

 

Colin McKay said:

“The team has already demonstrated an ability to develop a scalable product and close early enterprise deals, and the market’s clearly starting to open up. So it’s a very exciting time to be coming on board….”

Edinburgh named as one of the UK’s leading tech cities

Edinburgh has been named as a UK’s leading tech cities in the UK thanks to its combination of high levels of VC funding, available tech job, advertised tech salaries, number of current and future high-growth tech companies, according to new analysis for the UK’s Digital Economy Council.

 

Rewarding skilled tech talents

In Edinburgh, skilled tech talent can see job offers with salaries averaging £58,405 for a new role. This is the highest in the UK outside of London and the South East. There are now over 2,000 tech job vacancies in the city, an increase of 85% since last year.

Sandy McKinnon, Partner at Pentech Ventures, said:

“Edinburgh has steadily been growing as a tech hub over the past few years and this list recognises that. The combination of world-class universities, established IT businesses and unicorns like Skyscanner and FanDuel means there is a lot of exciting talent and innovation in the city. We’re seeing this with newcomers like TravelNest, Desana, Amiqus, Biomage and many others that are disrupting traditional industries – there really is so much potential around the city.”

Investment

Tech companies in Edinburgh have raised £117 million through 47 venture rounds, the second highest number of rounds in the UK. These include health tech Current Health (£32.5), foodtech Parsley Box (£17m), and tidal energy company Nova Innovation (£6.4m).

30% of new unicorns created this year I the UK are established outside of London, including Interactive Investor in Glasgow.

 

Digital Minister Chris Philp said:

“It’s brilliant to see Edinburgh ranking in the top five regional cities for UK tech, with innovative Scottish startups helping tackle some of the world’s major challenges.

“Capitalising on this brilliant growth across the whole of the UK is part of our mission to level up and we are supporting Scottish companies with pro-innovation policies to help people and get the skills they need.”

 

Levelling Up Power Tech League 2021:

 

  1. Cambridge

  2. Manchester

  3. Oxford

  4. Edinburgh

  5. Bristol

  6. Leeds

  7. Birmingham

  8. Newcastle

  9. Cardiff

  10. Belfast


Photo by saifullah hafeel from Pexels

Hays and FinTech Scotland partner to address demand for tech talent

Recruiting expert Hays has formed a strategic partnership with FinTech Scotland, the cluster management organisation which enables collaborative innovation in the financial services sector.

The move is aimed at ensuring a healthy pipeline of tech talent as new research shows that nine of the top 20 salary increases in Scotland for 2021 are related to the fintech (financial technology’) sector, highlighting an increased demand for such roles. With Hays’ global network, the partnership will also play a vital role in helping Scottish fintechs expand abroad.

The research, according to the Hays Salary & Recruiting Trends Guide 2022, shows that security architects saw a salary increase in 2021 of 17.3%, the highest increase within Scotland’s top twenty, whilst DevOps (IT development and operations) roles saw an above average increase of 10%.

To address the demand for niche talent in fintech, Hays’ specialist division, Hays Technology, will support the Scottish fintech cluster in recruiting for skills in fields such as cyber security, mobile banking, cloud applications, AI and blockchain solutions.

Justin Black, director of Hays Technology in Scotland, said:

“Clearly, the high demand for tech roles that we’ve seen in recent years continues and salaries are increasingly rising as a result. This is great news for Scotland which is the largest fintech hub after London. But we need to make sure that the talent pipeline is sufficiently healthy to fulfil the demand going forward.

“Through our recruitment knowledge, best practice and global network, we will be able to inform FinTech Scotland’s strategy, ensuring that the demand for fintech skills is met, and maintained, with a healthy talent stream.”

 

Nicola Anderson, chief executive of FinTech Scotland, commented:

“Since we launched FinTech Scotland in 2018, we’ve been working closely with Skills Development Scotland, Scottish universities, businesses and government agencies to ensure that skills providers are meeting the needs of tomorrow’s financial community.

“Having access to Hays’ extensive knowledge and data research on how best to attract the required skills makes them an ideal partner to help us fulfil our objectives, whether it’s for start-ups, scale-ups or established organisations.”

 

The research from Hays also shows that nearly two-thirds of employers in Scotland have increased salaries this year, with 71% planning to do so again over the next 12 months.

Other roles within the top 20 salary increases are in engineering, marketing and procurement which are also skills sought after by innovative fintech firms. Overall, salaries across Scotland increased by 2.6% in 2021.


Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels

Bearer and Trace announce industry partnership

Bearer, the Data security risk platform, has partnered with Trace, a privacy, data security and data governance expert solutions company, to help companies leverage the best of services and software and build a connected compliance programme.

The Trace team brings decades of experience in working with companies to build their data security and data governance capability and apply a proactive Privacy by Design approach. And at Bearer, the team are innovating data risk assessments to build intelligence and stack visibility – meaning customers can scale inventories and surface critical data risks.

Together the teams bring the best blend of human and tech capabilities to help progressive organisations connect the dots for joined up data security, privacy and risk programmes.

“We have been working with Sorcha, and Trace for a number of months now and from the outset, what struck us was her deep expertise in the field while at the same time a fresh perspective that immediately connected with what we do at Bearer. By working together we believe we can offer the industry a very different outlook and bring together a new direction for data security in general.”

Guillaume Montard, CEO Bearer

 

“Holistic is a word much used – and abused – in this area, but we really are taking that as our North Star in creating this partnership. Together with Bearer, we’re on a mission to break privacy, governance and security out of the silo and help build connected compliance across the ecosystem. We’re going to help organisations properly embed data protection compliance properly so that it informs and enriches everything they do.”

Sorcha Lorimer, Founder Trace

 

Trace and Bearer’s partnership will kick-off with a complimentary clinic where attendees can pose real life dilemmas to our lead experts. This is ideal for FinTech leaders looking for a fresh perspective on data risk and compliance.

A white paper proposing solutions to some of the most pressing data compliance issues facing organisations will follow, sponsored by the Bearer Data-Sec Lab and community.

AutoRek listed in RegTech100 List

Scottish RegTech company, AutoRek, just announced it has been selected as one of the world’s most innovative RegTech companies as part of the annual RegTech100 list.

Autorek was selected amongst a long list of nearly 1,200 companies produced by RegTech Analyst, a specialist research firm, for its innovative use of technology to solve a significant industry problem and generating efficiency improvements across the compliance function.

The Scottish company is a financial controls, regulatory reporting and data management platform which provides complete and seamless control of data. Despite the pandemic.

Kemal Sangrar, Head of Product, AutoRek, said

“We are delighted to be listed in the RegTech100 for the fourth consecutive year. This award is recognition of our commitment in delivering regulatory reporting solutions to the financial services industry and testimony to innovative strategy underpinning our product. We have had a great year with the launch of AutoRek 6, with many clients looking to upgrade in the coming months.”

Mariyan Dimitrov, Director of Research, RegTech Analyst, added,

“Banks and other financial institutions are investing heavily into AI capabilities to automate highly manual regulatory tasks, support digital onboarding processes and monitor for fraudulent activity. The RegTech100 list helps them filter through all the vendors in the market by highlighting the leading companies in sectors such as identity verification, risk management, communications monitoring, information security and financial crime prevention.”

 

A full list of the RegTech 100 is available at www.RegTech100.com.

Clearwater Analytics’ IPO Fuels Global Expansion

Clearwater Analytics is on a mission to revolutionise the world of investing.

For more than 15 years, Clearwater Analytics has provided a true SaaS solution for investment accounting and reporting that’s now trusted by more than 1,000 clients worldwide, including institutional investors in insurance, asset management, corporate treasury, the public sector, and more.

In September, Clearwater took an important step in furthering that mission through an IPO. The company is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CWAN.

Although this is an exciting achievement for the company, in many ways it’s business as usual at Clearwater. Clearwater has always prioritisedinvesting a large share of profits ”“ 25%+ back into research and development to ensure the continual improvement of the Clearwater solution and to meet evolving market needs. That commitment continues.

In recent years, Clearwater has also committed to a global expansion that enables the company to grow and support clients around the world. Going public helps support that expansion in Europe, a major part of Clearwater’s global team, where the company recently opened offices in Paris and Frankfurt, in addition to existing offices in London and Edinburgh. Clearwater also operates in the U.S., India, and Singapore.

“Clearwater has rapidly expanded our European client base, including adding some of the largest European financial institutions as clients”, said Colin Clunie, Head of EMEA Operations at Clearwater. “This shows the exciting opportunity we have to continue to grow in the region and deliver to our clients at a local level. It also enables us to attract the highest calibre of diverse talent to support our growth, foster innovation, and create solutions for tomorrow’s challenges.”

The Edinburgh operations centre which serves as a key operations hub for Clearwater has grown by 30% so far in 2021, and that’s expected to continue. Clearwater is building out capabilities at all levels ”“ from recent graduates to senior industry professionals. Further, the European team alone speaks 22 languages. This means Clearwater has the depth and expertise to provide world-class service tailored to the individual needs of its growing client list, regardless of location.

Clearwater’s SaaS solution automates and simplifies the complex tasks associated with investment accounting and reporting while providing clients with a complete and validated investment data set across their portfolios daily. For global teams, Clearwater’s multi-basis, multi-currency solution is accessed simply through a web browser, making it easy to work from any location and trust the entire team has access to a secure, single source of truth for investment data.

Scotcoin ”“ download a Scotwallet!

Scotcoin is one of the longest-lived country crypto currencies, having been founded in 2013. Under the present management team since 2015, the number of holders now stands at around 7000 and in over 50 countries.

Scotcoin is on the Ethereum mainnet as an ERC20 token. It has been verified by Etherscan and code audited by Hacken.io. They have given Scotcoin their highest rating.

Scotcoin was early into recognising that governments would require regulation. New holders require to go through KYC (Know your customer) and AML (Anti money laundering) procedures. Scotcoin’s ecosystem is directly connected with the charity sector.

Scotcoin occupies the social good works ecosystem and plans are well advanced to accelerate this, with a Third Sector manager appointed. Scotcoin very much wants everyone in Scotland to be better off. Everyone within Scotcoin is working to achieve this. Charities will be able to apply to receive Scotcoin to work within their own ecosystem in a number of ways. The Scotcoin Project CIC (TSPCIC) – Scotcoin’s educational and informational arm – recently held an event for Social Enterprise Scotland to showcase how crypto and especially Scotcoin can help.

Scotcoin already engages with the likes of Social Bite, The Big issue and the IPPR; it partners with Better Internet Search and BBX. These organisations help people that have problems to get on their feet again. This is both Scotcoin’s goal and desire. TSP CIC Temple Melville says: “Please help with our ongoing development and mission.”

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