By Roger Baird on Wednesday 5 June 2019
The government-backed body is looking for 25 firms to put through the six-month project.
Tech Nation has opened applications for its hot house programme for leaders of Britain’s most promising young fintech firms.
The six-month scheme, run by the government-backed body which promotes the UK’s technology industries, is looking for the heads of 25 firms to join the project, which is in its second year.
Successful firms will sign up to a series of talks by some of the UK’s most established fintech entrepreneurs, covering topics such as regulation, partnering with established financial services firms and international expansion. The programme will end with a three-day international showcase trip to the US.
Tech Nation said the scheme “is specifically designed to connect and create opportunities for the founders of the UK’s most promising fintech scaleups”. The Programme is part of the Treasury's Fintech Sector Strategy.
Fintech funding
The 15-strong judge panel includes Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion Capital and chair of Tech Nation, Starling Bank founder and chief executive Anne Boden and Augmentum Capital chief executive Tim Levene.
The launch of the programme comes after it was confirmed that the UK remains number one in the world for scaleup investment into fintech firms, generating £4.5bn in funding between 2015 and 2018, according to Tech Nation 2019 report released last month.
The body added that the 20 firms taken into the programme last year raised an average of £1.2m during the period. It said the average age of these firms was three years, with average revenues totalling just over £260,000.
Growth journey
Neil Garner, the chief executive of Norwich-based digital marketing firm Thyngs, took part in the scheme last year. He said: "Tech Nation's Fintech Programme helped Thyngs establish positive conversations with key stakeholders and helped us on our growth journey.”
He added: “We have since secured key industry veterans to lead international expansion in the US and Asia, ready to start once funding has closed with good working relationships with DIT and Australia High Commission thanks to programme.”
Firms who wish to apply must be at a stage of development equivalent to seed or Series A, have an actively used product in the market, and be based in the UK.
The economic secretary to the Treasury, John Glen said: “The country is full of exciting new companies that can break the mould and make our financial sector even stronger, and I urge all of them to get involved in this year’s programme.”
Tech Nation said applications period runs from 5 June to 9 July, and can be found here: https://technation.io/fintech/
