It's been a fantastic start to 2021 with heaps of activity across the team and platform. As record levels of VC funding flow into fintech, we are delighted to share a few of our highlights. Check out our new website where you can catch up on all the latest news and FISV perspectives.
Last week we were thrilled to announce our Series A investment into FINBOURNE Technology and our partnership with Thomas M. and the team! The LUSID platform is set to revolutionise the way we manage data at Fidelity and across the ecosystem. Erik Mostenicky has written an article detailing our investment thesis here.
Conquest raised a further $7.5m to fuel further growth, including UK expansion. This is on the back of six months of strong performance with contracts signed with IG Wealth Management, Investment Planning Counsel and Canada life. Conquest has also partnered with fintechs and resellers including Flinks, d1g1t, Purpose Advisory Solutions and Croesus to offer features across the advisory value chain from data gathering to analytics and risk management.
Elsewhere
Alokik featured at #18 of the Top 100 in the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist. It's a great achievement just 2.5 years since the inception of our team!
Fidelity became the first asset manager to sign up to Tech Nation's Fintech Pledge, supported by HM Treasury, setting globally-leading standards for the establishment of efficient & transparent commercial partnerships between financial institutions & fintechs.
Our inaugural Fintech Program that we launched with London Business School's Tech & Media Club at the start of the year was an incredible success with thirteen students completing projects with PrimaryBid, Alpima, Hivemind and us at FISV. Find out more here
Earlier this year we hosted Sam Ahuja to discuss managing your reputation and risks with our portfolio, specifically focusing on the challenges faced by the fintech ecosystem. Sam shared a lot of actionable tips for startups and scaleups.
SteelEye, the compliance technology and data analytics firm, has launched a new communications suite to give financial firms of all sizes and risk profiles access to best-in-class record keeping and oversight tools.
PrimaryBid, the retail platform connecting individual investors with public companies, has launched in France with Europe-wide exchange Euronext.
Moneybox, the savings and investment app, continues to broaden its product offering with the addition of its new simple saver account. The latest addition to Moneybox’s products comes after the success of its 45 and 95 Day Notice Accounts as well as its Cash Lifetime ISA, which is one of the most widely used Lifetime ISAs in the UK, with over 200,000 users.
DriveWealth, the global brokerage infrastructure platform, partnered with YieldX to launch target yield ETFs to help retail investors take better control of their financial lives.
BBVA selected Alpima, the SaaS platform for investment management and product design, to scale up their quant business. Offered as an enterprise version of its cloud-based service, the ALPIMA platform will be delivered on a white-label basis and configured specifically to meet BBVA’s needs.
Team
In September, we look forward to welcoming Marine Auge who joins us from Evercore as an Analyst. Marine is passionate about the democratisation of investing and in her free time has supported her family's restaurant business and competed at national level in alpine skiing.
It was double bubble on the promotion front too with both Erik Mostenicky and James Devlin moving up to Vice President. Both have had a fantastic year with the addition of Finbourne, Moonfare, DriveWealth and Capdesk to our portfolio and the successful implementation of a handful of portfolio solutions across Fidelity International.
Our portfolio was also delighted to appoint:
Alpima was thrilled to secure Kirsty Baggs-Morgan as their new Head of Talent. She brings a wealth of experience in financial services and most recently was part of the AI-focused tech scale-up Zoovu.
Capdesk welcomes Anisa Aksar who has hit the ground running leading the people agenda.
Clear appoints Roi Dover as VP Engineering [LA CHECKING WITH ERAN]
Thoughts and Perspectives
Earlier this year we hosted Sam Ahuja at Fidelity International Strategic Ventures to discuss managing your reputation and risks with our portfolio, specifically focusing on the challenges faced by the fintech ecosystem. See here for the most actionable key take-aways.
Alokik talked about Redefining Consumer Finance and accelerating financial inclusion through technology as part of the BVCA Sector Forum Series.
Eliska was a guest on the Female VC Lab podcast and interviewed by Stephanie Diaz of She Conquers Capital where she shared her thoughts on what inspired her to become a VC, as well as her investment thesis and perspectives on the evolution of our sector.
With our portfolio considering post-pandemic working patterns, Laura hosted a workshop for our portfolio on Dynamic Working with top tips on moving to remote and hybrid working models captured here.
Alokik took part in MoneyFest sharing his thoughts on when we should aim to build a global financial brand.
Other things we've been up to
Our team learning the ropes of pasta making, burning it off with some Wimbledon-esque tennis (!) and hunting for the next big deal at the West London Shooting School!
