The FinTech Alliance announces its fourth annual investment series

The early-stage FinTech funding landscape is changing. An increasingly challenging economic climate means founders more than ever need support in understanding all the options available to them, meeting investors and perfecting their approach to raising.

The FinTech Alliance, the government-backed digital ecosystem for UK FinTech, is running an investment series from April-June 2023, which will support early-stage companies that are emerging or planning to scale up this year. Registrations for FinTechs, Angel investors and VCs are now open.

On the back of last year’s series, where over 140 actively raising FinTechs took part, 80 leading investors from Angels, VCs, CVCs and PE helped FinTechs raise over £55mn.

The Fintech Alliance Investment Series, now in its fourth iteration, seeks to offer expert advice and insight on how to build a pitch deck, engage with investors, pitch your business and negotiate terms, as well as outlining all the different funding options on offer for early stage FinTechs. It includes community building and networking opportunities for founders and investors alike, and the ability to generate warm leads.

Given the current fundraising climate, the 2023 Series seeks to equip FinTech entrepreneurs with practical advice around running their business while fundraising – and offers access to the FinTech Alliance platform’s various Hubs, including talent, regulation and community building. FinTechs on the platform will receive the latest insights, connections and mentoring opportunities.

Those FinTechs currently seeking investment will have the opportunity to attend a Pitch Day in front of key investors. Last year, the judging panel included Augmentum, Albion VC, Insight Partners and Blackrock.

Previous series have boasted hundreds of FinTechs and investors, some of whom went on to raise capital or receive valuable feedback. Last year’s class said:

“The investment series helped us get really clear about our proposition – what we’re about, what we’re here for, what’s the clear elevator pitch, what’s powerful.”

“The investment series is about learning who not to talk to as much as who to approach. We found that we needed to use Angels to bridge the gap and take the first risk before approaching VCs.”

“If we look back at our deck from the start of the series versus now, we can see that it’s completely transformed. The best feedback is that we just got into an incubator program that took eight out of 150 applicants – they said it’s the strongest deck they’ve seen without the need for changes.”

“Every time we came out of a workshop it was, right, cut this, change that… The big problem if you’re so entrenched in your own business, you don’t have the ability to go out and look at things and tell history. Mountside Ventures was one of the most useful sessions where I found myself just taking notes from everything he said.”

“I approached some of the speakers from the masterclasses and they were very responsive. This is important because sometimes speakers come just to present, but they were very helpful and had time to answer questions.”

The series is run by the FinTech Alliance in partnership with the Department for International Trade, and is supported by Innovate Finance, London & Partners, Fintech North, FinTech Wales, FinTech Scotland, FinTech Northern Ireland and FinTech West – with many more partners to be announced.

Registrations for FinTechs and investors are now open and close on 31 March 2023.

By joining the series, FinTechs can:

• Use the FinTech Alliance platform for the duration, including the Regulated Investment Hub.
• Build your pitch deck with advice from FinTech leaders.
• Network with high-profile investors.
• Learn from a series of hybrid workshops on pitching, negotiating deals and more.

Investors can:

• Use the FinTech Alliance platform to find and invest in the latest innovative UK FinTechs, including the Regulated Investment Hub.
• Review pitch decks and meet founders during organized networking.
• Meet potential limited partners and co-investors in the FinTech ecosystem.

FinTechs can register here.

Investors can register here.

More information is available by email [email protected].

Phil Vidler, CEO of the FinTech Alliance, said: “As we enter 2023, there is no doubt that it is a tough environment out there for FinTechs looking to scale. Entrepreneurs not only need to be connected to the right investors, but now more than ever they need advice on the different routes they can take to raise capital, how to approach this, and what makes a robust FinTech business. Our previous investment series has not only connected founders with potential VC and Angel investors, but also with each other so they can build a supportive community environment during these difficult times. The key to joining a platform like the FinTech Alliance for FinTechs looking to raise is that it brings together early-stage companies with more experienced founders, VCs, professional services, governments, regional FinTech bodies and much more to provide comprehensive support at all stages of travel. I was incredibly impressed with the founders from the 2022 Investment Series and it was great to see these companies raise over £55m so far. I look forward to seeing a continuation of these high-caliber pitches this year.”