What’s bright orange, multi-lingual and smells like natas de pastel? Fintech Meetup Europe of course! Flushed from its Las Vegas success, this year the flashy Hyve team came all glitter guns blazing into Lisbon. Meandering past the tall maze of flags, banners and into the venue, you got the vibe that some serious cash had been dropped. I mean… The tote bags were ORGANIC cotton. 

Naturally, the conference had everything you'd expect. A huge hall in a convenient business location? Check. Familiar faces and impressive panel line-ups? Check, check. Stands of hopeful fintechs decked out with branded socks, cable bags and stickers? Check, check, check. But it also had some unexpected easter eggs dotted around too. 

Fintech MEETUP …The clue was in the name! 

The first is the unique philosophy of Fintech Meetup. They are all about scheduling distraction-free, face-to-face meetings. Half of the heaving space looked a bit like an exam room, with row upon row of chairs and tables numbered and neatly lined.

Some clever attendees, like my former colleague James Pereira-Stubbs tended to stay parked at one table and let people come to them. Serious power move. While others preferred to dart around like ADHD squirrels glancing at each table number like it was a potential nut… I fell more into this category. It reminded me of when I was a waitress, trying to remember both the table number and the name of the dish (or in this case person, or dishy person!). 

Face-to-face time was so important that all panels were paused during the allocated meeting schedules. And this booming air hostess voice let you know when each slot was coming to an end. Speed dating for fintechs.

I wondered about this clinical AI voice, that seemed to get weirdly more Irish as the day went on. After 2pm, it sounded a bit RyanAir. Is it that some meeting participants feel too awkward to close a meeting, so the voice that ricocheted and made every table vibrate was more than an alarm clock, and actually closer to when your friend calls you during a bad date to help you escape? Clever. I appreciated it. 

Padel, Massages and Photoshoots 

When it comes to conference activities, “padel, massages and photoshoots” sounds a bit x-rated. You might be wondering what kind of European convention I went to. But let you reassure you. As well as being the name of a bondage tool, padel is also a popular tennis-like, squash-sort of sport enjoyed in Spain, Portugal and beyond. The massages were those clothes-on, sitting-up, corporate types which have become a trend recently. I LOVE THEM. And the photoshoots were strictly business headshots. Nobody told me to pounce like a tiger or roar a the camera, sadly.

Easily the most impressive one was the padel. Taking up at least a quarter of the space, the Fintech Meetup team had installed a giant orange court, complete with a coach. If we were in Bake-off, this would have been the showstopper.

It was reminiscent of the pedalos at Money2020 Europe. A sporty little gem to get heads turning. You would usually have to pay an absolute mint to use a padel court. In London they can stretch to £85 a session. But here you could go padel-crazy for free! I saw some people (typically men in black t-shirts and bright trainers) getting competitive. A couple of times that tennis ball felt like it was going to smack through the clear plastic walls and straight into someone's lunch.

YES! Lunch was included

Speaking of lunch, yes it was included. Thank God. And it was great! I'd give it 4.6 to 4.7 stars. There were all the classic food trucks pumping out the good stuff. You could pick up a Greek gyros (a favourite of Adam Chapman), pad thai noodles, pizza, traditional Portuguese dishes, Poke bowls and much more. 

The best food, however, was not the lunch but the sweet treats. I am not normally one for waffles. But La Virgin Santissima (as my super-Andalucian husband always shouts), these waffles were something else. Hot crunch on the outside, softer than warm candy floss on the inside and smothered in nutella. With each bite I was transported into another universe. Food heaven. Brought the blockchain chat to the next level. The natas were also pretty spectacular. I shamelessly ate two every day. 

A bold choice of location

So if I am brutally honest, attendees were little thin on the ground. Not disastrously thin. This wasn’t the conference-equivalent of a bald man forcing a combover with three stands of hair. It was still respectable, especially considering it was the Fintech Meetup Europe debut conference. 

To Fintech Meetup's credit, the second day was fuller. Most people revealed that their flight had been delayed from the UK. But this also highlighted the disproportionate number of Brits attending, and relatively low local presence. Eavesdropping on conversations (classic journalist), I heard 90% English, 10% Spanish and almost no Portuguese at all. 

For a first conference, Portugal was a certainly brave choice. Some mediterranean cities are screaming out for fintech conferences. But I'm not sure if Lisbon is one of them. 

Next year, the event will be in Paris, which makes sense. Especially from a carbon emissions perspective, as Brits can take the train. But I do feel a tiny bit gutted that there isn't a great big glittering fintech bonanza in the parts of the mediterranean that really want one, in cities like Madrid for example. 

Front row seats to fintech royalty

In a beautiful silver lining, less participants meant front-row seats to fintech royalty. And I have to give it to Head of Content, Douglas MacKenzie, the speakers were brilliant. 

During Daniel Lowther's panel, I sat there thinking, “that can't be the guy who’s charge of building Wero - Europe's answer to Mastercard’s and Visa's payment rails". And I slowly realised it was. Daniel Van Delft. He sat there looking so chill. “Wero” appeared nowhere in his title. But this laid back Dutch guy casually leads 16 major European banks, including Revolut, in a landmark project created by the European Central Bank. And he's just there being normal. 16 banks, zero f**s given.

Speaking of, Revolut put in an appearance alongside N26 and Trade Republic, in a panel moderated by Sifted's Damisola Sulaiman. The trio spoke passionately about how they’re forcing incumbents to move away from abusive fees and more transparency. In an interesting twist, a couple of Parliamentarians popped over from the UK to give their two cents as well.

My favourite panel, however, was delivered by two Portuguese founders and one venture capitalist. They painted such a graphic picture of the local fintech scene, in a session filled with angry passion. I loved it.  It was kind of jarring to hear their perfect Silicon Valley accents mixed with such raw emotion. Usually we hear absolute robots like Mark Zuckerberg speaking with that voice. The sparse crowd also meant that they opened up. There were some swears, a bit of backslapping and it felt like three guys blowing off steam in the pub. This was one of my all-time favourite panels from any conference I've been to. 

A conference with swag(ger) 

Weighed down by three notepads, three tote bags, two hand gels, one piggy bank, one polo shirt, one cable bag and an obligatory pair of socks, I left Fintech Meetup Europe a really happy bunny. True to its mission, I'd spent most of the time immersed in meaningful conversations. Not just interviews for my articles, but also about life. 

One morning, my fellow freelancers staged a spontaneous intervention to tell me that my rate card was too low. That's never happened at any of the other events where we are all dashing from panel to panel. I increased my fees and now I finally look like I will get some work-free weekends. Result!

Later in the same day, I chatted to Efi about her career, only to discover that she might be the most badass Wall Street person I've ever encountered. The calmer atmosphere meant that I could chat openly and without time pressure. Better still, I could do it over a lovely (decaf) coffee and nata. Lush/ 

In summary, I'd say… come for Wero, stay for the chat, and leave with a hefty bag full of swag. An overall really good event. Nice one guys!