London’s fintech scene is continuing to expand at an impressive rate; research from consultancy William Garrity Associates shows that the total value of the capital’s fintech scene by deals – including direct investment, stock market listings and acquisitions – has now topped £11.9 billion, putting it on the same level as San Francisco.
However, there’s clearly still room for growth. Industry experts estimate that just 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the financial services industry has been “disrupted” by fintech so far, leaving large chunks of it – namely insurance and capital markets – as yet largely untouched. Companies are continuing to emerge to fill that gap; as we enter November and grow ever closer to the end of the year, which fintech companies are the ones to watch in 2016?
Invoiceable
Business administration and software are one sector that is thriving in fintech. The idea behind Invoiceable may be simple, but easy software that speeds up admin can make a big difference to business. Their free platform allows users to create, send and manage professional looking invoices in seconds. In the three years since its launch, the company have recorded an impressive growth of 26,000 registered users in two months. Invoiceable was also rated the number one billing and invoice app on bestvendor.com.
InvestYourWay
InvestYourWay is essentially an online, easy-to-use fund management company. It allows you to build your own fund based on your requirements, using a variety of companies and financial instruments. Their service rebalances your fund when it needs it, has no minimum investment period and caters for GBP, EUR and USD. Essentially, InvestYourWay is a completely bespoke, individually managed investment portfolio; with a fee of just 1% per year. Well worth a look at.
FundingInvoice
FundingInvoice is a relative newbie to the fintech scene, with software that essentially bridges the gap between suppliers selling their stock and being paid by the buyer. They recognise that many small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) may have problems with cashflow, and hope to provide an online platform where SMEs can “sell” their invoices to investors and receive payment up front, rather than having to wait to receive the money. SMEs will not pay any fees to use the service; they will only pay the investors a small percentage of each invoice value. As of October 30th the guys behind Funding Invoice became one of 30 entrepreneurs to reach the final of The Pitch, a business competition. With the winner announced on the 12th November, it will be interesting to see how well they do.