The South Coast community delivers again!

Tuesday 25th June saw the FinTech West - South Coast Summer Showcase bringing together the vibrant and growing South Coast community for a range of topics, a special announcement on funding and plenty of networking. It’s becoming one of those activites that we’re running out of superlatives for! Special thanks go to Bournemouth and Poole College for hosting the event at their superb Jellicoe Theatre plus the ever enthusiastic Steering Group who’s hard work collectively makes this happen.

We had Matthew Stammers kicking off proceedings, vibrantly and loudly (who needs a mic?) as well as providing an update on recent activities. Matthew explained the goals of FinTech West - South Coast including the audience approved statement of “You shouldn’t have to go to London to get a decent job”.

Matt Lewns took over to deliver a fascinating insight into the growth story of iplicit and how they’ve really found their market focus to become the 18th fastest growing firm in the UK on the FT1000 list. That’s when you know you are doing something right and quite a FinTech success story from Dorset.

We then heard from Stuart Harrison who covered some observations on FinTech from around the South West and UK including how “the South Coast” is one of the four key areas of strategic focus for FinTech West. Stuart echoed Matthew’s calls for further collaboration and getting involved which became a much heralded theme for the day.

The brilliant support from Barclays Eagle Lab in the region was highlighted by Hannah Sprague before David Mutton described the Evolve Business Accelerator and the wonderful work they perform locally. Evolve are open for applications until July 20th for the September start, so entrepreneurs apply now.

Our hosts, in the form of Stuart Palmer from Bournemouth and Poole College, then gave us an insight into some of the college activities and we heard more, particularly from students, about their flourishing eSports studies. As an aside, Stuart gave an eye opening tour of the college at the end of the event where we were able to see a massive variety of activities taking place from marine engineering to creative media to medical care across the campus. If Stuart ever offers you a tour in the future, take it!

Gilbert van Roon from FinTech Compliance then gave perhaps the most appealing and wittiest compliance presentation we’ve ever witnessed - and they are not words that normally go together. A great way to tackle a critical topic, make some great points and keep everyone interested.

We were delighted to then hear from Joe Parkin at the FinTech Growth Fund and the South Coast Steering Group who described the state of FinTech on the South Coast but how funding was needed to take it to the next level. Joe then announced the Funding Initiatives which include launching a South Coast technology investor network and hosting an investor showcase day later in the year. You can read more about this here.

It was great to hear about some developments at the London Stock Exchange from Lauren Crawley-Moore including the world’s first regulated crossover market which sounds particularly significant to the UK as it allows private companies to access public market liquidity while remaining private - surely will attract huge interest.

We then finished with the double act of Matthew and Stuart outlining some ambitious, but realsitic, targets for the region before repeating the call to action - get involved! Drop us a line here to learn more and, of course, follow our Eventbrite page or event better, join the community below.