New fintech accelerator Archie launches in London

Archie, a new fintech accelerator backed by a former neobank founder, has launched.

Anthony Thomson, a co-founder of Metro Bank and Atom Bank, is behind the new venture alongside Steve Brennen, a former tech exec.

The pair want to partner with Series A & B scale-ups as well as early-stage fintechs across the UK, Australia and the Middle East in exchange for equity.

“Fintechs are a force of good – for years they’ve disrupted the financial services industry, providing better products, services and experiences for customers. But despite many great ideas, too many have fallen short, having not had the support they need,” Anthony Thomson, co-founder and chair of Archie, said.

“Archie will change that. Our team is perfectly positioned to offer the real hands-on, senior support they need. And crucially, provide it now, with it being more important than ever for fintechs to use resources in the right way," he added.

Tommy Mermelshtayn (Zip and Equifax) and Richard McCandless (brand and performance optimisation, FCB and Publicis Groupe are also part of the founding team.

Archie's non-executive directors also include Fawaz Zu’bi (founder and CEO of global venture capital firm Silicon Badia) and Paul Pester (Chair of Tandem Bank, former CEO of TSB and Virgin Money globally, and founder of Loop).

Archie will launch through a series of events across the rest of 2023, starting in Dubai on 12 September 2023.