Tandem, Tide & Seedrs amongst Fintech Firms Sharing Growth Tips At Innovate Finance Event

I may be biased as a Fintech Reporter, but Fintech is fast becoming THE most interesting area to work in. Just take a look at the figures; last year, financial technology companies around the world raised a total of $36 billion, so it’s no surprise that so many start-ups want a slice of the pie. Inspiring companies like Monzo, Tandem, Revolut and Brolly have become household names, and many want to follow in their footsteps.

And because so many Fintech companies are growing so fast, Innovate Finance – which represents the UK’s global FinTech community – has launched the ‘FinTech Growth Forum’. Its aim is to support Fintech start-ups on their scaling journeys, whether it’s looking for funding or considering an international expansion.

The event was held in Liverpool Street, that part of London which has the perfect blend of the biggest banks and the freshest start ups.

I kicked off by catching up with Fintech Expert Liz Lumley, who was MCing on the main stage. She told me: “We’re not just here to talk Fintech, we’re looking at all aspects that go hand in hand with growth; how to grow capital, cultural issues you encounter when your business expands in to other countries and so on. We are seeing a lot of Fintech companies growing and this event is helping those sort of start-ups.”

Tandem is a Fintech company that has experienced both ups and downs as part of their business growth, and all in the public eye. Earlier this year, House of Fraser’s Chinese owners pulled out £29 million of a £35 million investment in UK challenger. But now the company is very much on the up! I met Tandem CEO Ricky Knox at the event: “We have signed, but not yet closed as we are waiting to get approval from the Bank of England, the purchase of Harrods Bank, a banking business with a strong customer focus. This is great news for our customers because it brings £800 million of capital into Tandem. Not only does this mean that Tandem is well funded but it has taken a big leap in terms of maturity of the business.”

So a great example of how a business can overcome a bump on the journey to success.

When it comes to raising capital, a popular way of growing your business these days is of course through crowdfunding. Last year, Tandem smashed through its £1 million crowdfunding target in just 15 minutes!

Speaking of this, Ricky does warn that “it’s important to be aware that you are becoming a public company, and that your financial results are in the public eye rather than private. So you have to be ready for the positives and the negatives.”

Crowdfunding company Seedrs was at the event too. Senior Campaign Associate Tom Horbye told me: “We’re here to meet businesses and help them understand equity crowdfunding. A lot of businesses don’t think they are right for crowdfunding or don’t understand it. Back in 2013 you could fund an idea, now it’s on a much bigger scale. Look at Revolut for example, they raised just under £4 million in their series B. So we are seeing a shift from early stage businesses using crowdfunding to launch, to larger companies using crowdfunding to grow and engage with their customers.”

Business partnerships were also discussed at the event. Tide, a UK-based, mobile-first banking service targeting small and medium enterprise customers (which, speaking of crowdfunding picked up a Series A of $14 million, one of the bigger rounds for a fintech startup in Europe this year!) has made a new partnership with European online lender iwoca, to initiate its first loan programme.

Tide’s CEO and Founder George Bevis, who was also speaking at the event, explained to me that “when it comes to growth in Fintech, the positive aspects is that the market opportunity is enormous. But that also means it’s more challenging to make a customer aware that a product has been made, so the biggest constraint is awareness.”

He added that Tide intends to roll-out an international payment service and to launch in Europe next year.

Also present were of course the smaller start-ups. I hung with the Loqbox team for a while, who shared with great enthusiasm: “It’s such an exciting time to be in Fintech! There is so much interest. We want to fight financial exclusion, our mission as global.”

It was also refreshing to meet the all female fronted Fintech company Urica, a service that accelerates invoice payments. They said: “It’s great to see the Fintech industry developing. Now that Fintech has gained traction people know about it and we are excited be part of the boom!”

And there to remind me that we have seen nothing yet when it comes to Fintech’s full potential was Steve Murphy, Head of Financial Services Regulatory Consulting at law firm Hogan Levell: “There are variable sizes of fintech firms; some are at the stage of credit broking, some are going for the banking license. The industry is maturing – but still in the early stages.”

Indeed, cracking the Fintech industry is getting more and more appealing by the day. Perhaps the start-ups that I met at the Innovate Finance Growth Forum will be the ones dishing out their top tips at the event next year!