© Whitecap Consulting
Greater Manchester FinTech
ECOSYSTEM REPORT 2020
1
Research area:
This report focuses primarily
on the activity in the
geographical area covered
by the Greater Manchester
Combined Authority. Where
firms are based outside
the official boundaries but
are active in the FinTech
ecosystem, they have been
included in the report.
Thank you to the organisations who have supported and co-funded this research:
Greater Manchester FinTech Ecosystem Summary
2
Forewords
5
Whitecap Consulting
6
The University of Manchester
7
FinTech North
9
Innovate Finance
10
MIDAS
11
Greater Manchester FinTech Ecosystem Research 2020
13
Definitions And Methodology
14
Overview
15
Findings And Recommendations
20
Availability Of Talent
22
Strength Of The Established Financial Sector
24
Strength Of The Overall Tech Sector
26
Case Study: Shaping FinTech Innovation for over 25 years
28
Strength Of FinTech Startup/Scaleup Community
29
Relationship between Startups /Scaleups & Established
Financial Sector
32
Funding For FinTech
34
Physical Spaces/Hubs
36
Interaction And Communication Between Key Players
39
Press & Social Media
41
The Role Of Universities
43
Case Study: Innovation Labs facilitating academic-led solutions
to business challenges
45
Participating Organisations
46
Table of contents
© Whitecap Consulting
Published April 2020
add region graphic
2
© Whitecap Consulting 1
GREATER
MANCHESTER
FINTECH ECOSYSTEM
- SUMMARY
© Whitecap Consulting
Greater Manchester FinTech Ecosystem summary 2020
51%
are startups
6 yrs
average age
of firms
39firms,
employing
985people
44yrs
average age
of founders
61% B2B
61% B2C
FinTech startups & scaleups
79%
have main office
in the region
1. Manchester was the fastest-
growing tech city in Europe in
2019 and more than doubled its
investment to £181m2.
2. One of Europe’s leading digital
and technology clusters.
3. Manchester has been recognised
as Europe’s fifth best large city for
business, ranking first for business
friendliness and third for Foreign
Direct Investment3.
4. Home to Europe’s largest
concentration of private equity
firms outside London.
5. Manchester has more
E-commerce unicorns than any
other city in Europe (5).
6. The UK’s largest regional airport
serving over 200 destinations
worldwide, including many major
financial hubs.
7. Manchester has the largest travel-
to-work catchment area of any
regional city in the UK.
Why Greater Manchester is different:
1. More FinTech startups and scaleups than
any other UK region researched1.
2. Well known FinTech brands with a
presence in the region include
Adyen, Crowdcube, Funding Circle,
Greensill, Klarna, MoneySuperMarket,
OakNorth, Raisin.
3. A number of established FinTech firms
have chosen Manchester as their
second UK office outside London.
4. More people employed in FinTech
startups and scaleups than any other
region outside London.
5. Highest percentage of B2C FinTech firms
of any region researched.
6. There are numerous organisations
supporting the FinTech community via
events-based activity.
7. A dedicated FinTech Committee was
launched by MIDAS and pro-manchester
in 2019.
Greater Manchester FinTech highlights:
£540.6m
GVA (estimated)
FinTech sector
109 firms
90%
people working
in established
organisations
9,685
estimated FinTech
related roles
36% startups &
scaleups
24% Tech
firms
40% established FS/
FinTech firms
1,393,200
workforce
102,000
students
9,910
FS & Tech firms
174,000
people working
in FS or Tech
Greater Manchester
5
Universities
2,812,600
population
8.2%
of UK FinTech GVA
1Other regions researched by Whitecap to date are: North East, Bristol & Bath, Leeds City Region, West Midlands. 2Tech Nation Report 2020.
3Financial Times FDI European Cities and Regions of the Future 2020/21 (published February 2020).
£65.5bn
GVA
4.2%
of UK GVA
Funding Advisory & Support Serv
ice
s


Hubs & FinTech Scaleups H.E



E
stablished FS Startups & © Whitecap Consulting 2020
Tech Digital Sector PublicGreater
Manchester
Greater Manchester FinTech & Support Ecosystem
5
© Whitecap Consulting 2
FOREWORDS
6
© Whitecap Consulting
We are pleased to present our inaugural assessment
of the Greater Manchester FinTech Ecosystem. This
report paints a positive picture of a region with strong
financial and digital sectors, as well as a higher volume
of FinTech startups and scaleups than any other region
outside London that we have researched to date4.
In our role as a regionally focused strategy consultancy, we
are exposed to many high growth sectors across the UK and
have been actively involved in FinTech since we founded
the company in 2012. Since that time, we have worked with
established financial services organisations, tech providers,
FinTech startups and scaleups, universities, PE and Corporate
Finance firms, the public sector and inward investment
organisations on a range of FinTech related projects.
FinTech provides a material economic growth opportunity
for the UK, the North, and for the Greater Manchester
Region. On a national level, the sector is expected to
create approximately 30,000 more jobs and over 1,600 new
businesses by 20305. According to Dealroom6, since 2013
European FinTech companies have created over 2x more
value than any tech sector in Europe. Additionally, the annual
report from Tech Nation7 in 2019 confirmed the UK remains
the global leader for scaleup investment into FinTech firms,
generating £4.5bn in funding between 2015 and 2018.
London is a major centre of the sector on both a national
and an international basis, with an emphasis on startup and
business funding. However, the dynamic is quite different
in other parts of the UK, including the Greater Manchester
Region, which is home to some long-established financial
services and tech businesses, as well as a growing startup
community.
Our analysis across all regions shows that the focus tends to
be less on startups - the supply side, and more focused on
the demand side, driven by established financial service
organisations seeking innovation and collaboration. This has
been driven by increasing competition, new technology,
increased customer expectations and legacy IT systems;
reflecting the shift to a digital economy. In Manchester,
however, we have observed a startup and scaleup sector that
is proportionally larger than we have seen in other regions.
For established financial service organisations who have
evolved their systems and processes over time, it is increasingly
difficult to operate efficiently and effectively in a digital
world. In contrast, the newer entrants have more of a flexible
strategy, ideally suited to an ecosystem-based approach
and are well placed to exploit specific opportunities including
developments such as Open Banking.
The issue of legacy technology in the financial sector is not
a new one, but the major change now is a move towards
openness and the adoption of different operating models
with multiple supplier relationships. The challenge of adapting
to this new digitally orientated operating model is something
that is a common theme in our work with established
organisations in the financial services and technology sectors.
FinTech has evolved from disintermediation to collaboration,
and within a few years it will be the way financial services
are delivered. Also, the technology and data competencies
that underpin FinTech are highly transferable to other industry
sectors; a key factor in regional economic development.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders
in the Manchester Region who have helped us produce this
report, which hopefully will contribute to future growth in this
exciting and rapidly developing sector across the region.
Whitecap Consulting
4 The other regions studied by Whitecap to date are Bristol & Bath, Leeds City
Region, North East, West Midlands.
5 UK FinTech – State of the Nation 2019, Department for International Trade.
6 The State of European FinTech 2019, Finch Capital & Dealroom, October 2019
UK Tech on the Global Stage - Tech Nation Report 2019.
Richard Coates, Managing Director
Whitecap Consulting
7
© Whitecap Consulting
The year is 2020 and financial technology has come a
long way in the last couple of decades from being a
niche subject amongst computer geeks and ‘IT crowd’-
style techies in banks, to a matter of strategic importance
that will influence the future of many financial institutions
and also the finance industry as a whole.
The UK has been at the forefront of FinTech developments
with substantial investments across the board making it a
global leader and a hub for innovation in digital finance.
While the majority of the activities are London
-led, Manchester, and the greater area around it,
claim a significant part of the day-to-day operations
and IT development for some of the country’s top
FinTech brands.
Mapping the entire FinTech ecosystem is an important
exercise in order to get a better understanding of the
variety and size of the FinTech sector in and around
Manchester and to identify the needs and potential for
further growth and investment. Being part of the city’s
vibrant innovation and R&D cluster, Alliance Manchester
Business School (AMBS) and The University of Manchester
are pleased to be supporting Whitecap Consulting for this
important research.
At Alliance Manchester Business School we’re on a mission
to 1) develop cutting-edge research in order to support
the industry with the knowledge and tools to respond to
the FinTech and digital revolution in financial services, and
2) to educate the next generation of analysts, managers,
stakeholders, regulators, investors, and entrepreneurs who
will shape the future of finance. Both of these objectives will
have an impact on the local and national economy
and help us establish The University of Manchester as a
FinTech research and teaching powerhouse internationally.
In this we’re not alone and we are in close collaboration
with our diverse network of stakeholders, partners, and
alumni locally and globally to leverage access to resources
and knowledge. The most recent example of this has been
the generous support of AMBS alumnus Lex Greensill who
provided £2.5m to the University in order to “spearhead
the understanding and sharing of FinTech expertise across
business communities locally, nationally and globally”.
The donation which led to the establishment of the Greensill
Chair in Financial Technology (FinTech) at the School
will also allow the newly created AMBS faculty to expand
their research and teaching portfolio and attract even
more research scholars and students at the University. Our
aim is to offer a continuous supply of FinTech talent to the
thriving local industry but also to export FinTech expertise
internationally increasing the University and city’s
recognition as an innovation and research centre.
We look forward to welcoming you to one of our many
FinTech events and activities in due course and are excited
to be working with FinTech startups and established
financial services firms in the region and nationally in order
to push the boundaries of the FinTech industry globally.
For more information on future events, our FinTech
recruitment efforts, and details around FinTech research
and teaching at Alliance Manchester Business School and
The University of Manchester, please follow the link:
www.ambs.ac.uk/fintech
The University of Manchester
Professor Markos Zachariadis
Greensill Professor in Financial
Technology (FinTech) & Information
Systems, Alliance Manchester
Business School, The University of Manchester
Professor Markos Zachariadis is a faculty member at
Alliance Manchester Business School, The University
of Manchester where he holds the Greensill Chair in
Financial Technology (FinTech) & Information Systems.
He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s
Global Future Council on Financial and Monetary
Systems as well as a FinTech Research Fellow
at Cambridge University (CDI).
8
© Whitecap Consulting
Photo credit: The University of Manchester
9
© Whitecap Consulting
It is a pleasure to contribute to this report into the
Greater Manchester FinTech ecosystem. I have visited
the city many times over recent years and the interest
and engagement in FinTech has always been evident.
Manchester is well represented on a national and
international basis, particularly by MIDAS who are
consistently present at the major FinTech events and
conferences. The city has a strong reputation as a
growing FinTech hub.
From a FinTech North perspective, we were delighted to
host seven events in Manchester in 2019, including a major
conference with 300 sign ups. We also worked with the
Department for International Trade and Whitecap to host
two international FinTech trade missions. This year, we will
once again host a major full day conference in partnership
with The University of Manchester, at the iconic Whitworth Hall.
Our conferences in 2019 attracted over 1000 delegate
registrations, and we have also hosted seminars covering
topics including Open Banking, FraudTech, Mortgages,
Lending, Diversity, Skills, Blockchain, and RegTech. The
impact of hosting these events in building the northern
FinTech community cannot be underestimated, and they
are also a great source of PR profile for the regions where
they are hosted.
I get immense satisfaction from seeing the different
regional ecosystems around the UK coming together. A
collaborative and open approach is the route to success
and the national FinTech sector will be stronger. I was
delighted to hear that the four major regions of Leeds,
Greater Manchester, Liverpool and the North East were
aiming to collaborate in the FinTech Connect conference
and exhibition in London in December last year.
The fact this was done under the FinTech North brand
demonstrates that we are delivering on our promise to bring
the north’s FinTech community together.
On a national level, 2019 saw the creation of the FinTech
National Network in April. Created by Innovate Finance,
FinTech North and FinTech Scotland, it has since been
expanded to include FinTech Wales, FinTech Northern
Ireland and FinTech West. I fully expect more regional
ecosystems to be formed and become part of this
group, which is providing a vital forum to bring together
the national ecosystem. The recent announcement by
the Chancellor that there is to be a review of UK FinTech,
led by Ron Kalifa, looks set to have a national focus and
will hopefully benefit the regional FinTech ecosystems
across the UK.
Finally, I would like to highlight that FinTech North is not a
membership organisation and it receives no central funding.
FinTech North functions on a combination of sponsorship
and goodwill from numerous organisations across the north,
supported by the hard work of the FinTech North team.
I would therefore like to take this opportunity to say thank
you to everyone who has supported FinTech North to date.
Without your help, we would not have been able to make
the progress we have.
FinTech North
Chris Sier, HM Treasury FinTech Envoy
& Chairman, FinTech North
10
© Whitecap Consulting
It is my pleasure to contribute to this inaugural report on
FinTech in Greater Manchester. We have been frequent
visitors to Manchester, to speak at events and to meet
with key stakeholders in the region. We have observed the
increasing focus on the northern economy, and we hope
that the FinTech sector in Greater Manchester and the
wider north will be a beneficiary.
Innovate Finance is the independent industry body that
represents and advances the global FinTech community in
the UK. Our mission is to accelerate the UK's leading role in
the financial services sector by directly supporting the next
generation of technology-led innovators.
The UK is the global leader in FinTech and over the past
decade, the country’s position as a trailblazing force in the
sector has been growing from strength to strength. Building
on our long-standing financial services pedigree, and
injecting it with innovation and transformative technology,
the results have transformed all areas of financial services.

The numbers speak for themselves. The innovation in
financial services has resulted in over 100,000 new jobs
across the UK, and the sector continues to attract record
amounts of investment. In 2019 the UK FinTech sector
retained its role as the top-ranking investment destination in
Europe, with venture capital and private equity investment
growing 38% year on year to a new record of $4.9bn,
despite a year of political challenges and uncertainty.
As a nation, we have embraced FinTech with open arms.
Our progressive regulation has encouraged innovation and
a large part of our success is down to just this. Innovators
and entrepreneurs need a framework that allows them
to thrive, so it is vital that we continue to develop and
adapt regulation in ways that create the right conditions
for FinTech to prosper. To date, the UK is the best place to
start and scale a business – and we need to make sure that
remains the same for years to come.
The recent Budget announcement only served to
strengthen the importance of FinTech to the UK economy,
and we welcomed the focus on R&D, tech and life sciences
as well as the subsequent inclusion of an independent major
REVIEW of UK FinTech. We have long been advocating for
an in-depth look at the sector and we are confident that
this important review will underpin the future growth and
prosperity of the sector across the whole of the UK.
Talent will accelerate growth across the FinTech sector, so
we need to ensure we continue to blend the skills of finance,
engineering and computer science that has propelled UK
FinTech to the top. This is of immense importance as we
enter the global race for talent and access to the brightest
minds in the space. By investing and laying the groundwork
for the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs,

we are creating opportunities for the FinTech leaders of the
future, who will become ambassadors for the UK’s global growth.
There is a clear opportunity for the government to set the
parameters for UK FinTech to remain competitive on the
global stage. By better understanding the needs and key
focus areas for the sector, we can boost the industry and in
turn support the economy as a whole. This will bring benefits
not just in London and the South East, but to those vibrant
FinTech hubs across the UK.
Whilst London is acknowledged as the global epicentre
in the world of FinTech, other regions of the country play
an important role in building a diverse and robust national
FinTech ecosystem - from Northern Ireland and Scotland,
to the West and North of England. We need to ensure we
shine a spotlight on these regions to showcase their success
and contribution, to in turn drive further growth and attract
investment across all areas.
At Innovate Finance, we have recognised this potential
and the FinTech National Network has been established
with some key partners to foster collaboration between
national hubs and encourage innovators up and down the
country. If we can combine this network with local and central
government support, as well as access to patient capital to
scale companies, the future of UK FinTech will be even brighter.
By connecting FinTech hubs across the UK, different regions
will be able to support each other and in turn encourage
national growth. This will form the basis to engage with
international markets as a united front, ensuring our
great reputation as a FinTech nation, and enabling us to
continue setting the pace for the industry on an increasingly
competitive international stage.
Innovate Finance
Charlotte Crosswell, Chief Executive,
Innovate Finance
11
© Whitecap Consulting
Being home to the UK’s largest regional banking and
financial services industry, as well as one of Europe’s
largest digital and technology clusters, Greater
Manchester has developed a strong reputation as the
FinTech capital of the North; and on behalf of Greater
Manchester, MIDAS is delighted to support this pioneering
research into the city region’s FinTech industry.
A world-first AI study recently identified Manchester as the
UK’s Top Digital Tech City but it is not the first time it has
been recognised for being progressive. Due to the city
region’s history of innovation, banks and financial services
firms have been innovating in Greater Manchester for more
than 40 years – but it’s only throughout the last 10 years that
the FinTech industry has really come into its own.
Within that decade, the scale and pace of change has
been (and continues to be) unprecedented, so in-depth
research projects like this play a significant role in mapping
the rapidly evolving sector and identifying opportunities to
further develop the city region’s FinTech proposition.
Greater Manchester’s evolution into a leading UK FinTech
hub is underpinned by a vast and highly skilled workforce,
world-leading universities as well as a collaborative
ecosystem with innovation at its core. The city region is truly
unique in that it has breadth and strength across a range
of industries from banking and cyber security to retail tech
and service design, making it the perfect proving ground
for innovative FinTech companies.
Greater Manchester is a melting pot of relevant expertise
that enables FinTechs to thrive. As well as being able to
access the wealth of knowledge and expertise held within
Greater Manchester’s financial services firms, FinTechs can
easily engage with specialists in payments, online security
and service design as well as software development and
data analytics to develop and strengthen consumer-
focused products and services.
The depth and diversity of Greater Manchester’s economy
also provides FinTech companies with extensive market
opportunities, from the wealth of banks and financial
services firms to the burgeoning eCommerce and cyber
security industries.
There are significant numbers of banking technology
departments based in the city region all with C-suite
representatives that control large budgets, providing
an opportunity to be part of their supply chain. Greater
Manchester is also home to many high-growth eCommerce
companies, including five homegrown eCommerce
unicorns, as well as the greatest concentration of retail
tech start-ups than anywhere else in the UK; it also has
the fastest-growing cyber ecosystem nationally, providing
additional opportunities for FinTechs to sell into.
Collaboration is rife in Greater Manchester and the city
region is also home to a wealth of Fintech-focused and
broader innovation hubs that deliver programmes designed
to help both start-ups and SMEs scale while helping partner
with pioneering smaller companies to address challenges.
In these hubs, start-ups, SMEs and global players converge,
collaborate and drive industry innovation.
This combination of expertise and enthusiasm has led
more than 80 FinTech-related operations to be run out of
Greater Manchester, including archetypal FinTech firms
as well technology companies offering financial, legal
or insurance-focused services and solutions; a figure that
we expect to grow significantly in coming years as our
ecosystem continues to evolve.
MIDAS has helped many of them become established
within Greater Manchester’s FinTech scene by providing a
range of extensive free, confidential and bespoke business
support services – but it is just one company that sits beneath
The Growth Company, a not-for-profit that plays an integral
role in supporting companies already located here to scale
and thrive locally, nationally and internationally.
Thank you to Whitecap Consulting for leading on this
important piece of research, which demonstrates there is
huge growth potential for the FinTech industry across the
UK. Off the back of this project, MIDAS and The Growth
Company is primed to reinforce Greater Manchester’s
FinTech standing both nationally and internationally.
MIDAS
Tim Newns, CEO of MIDAS
12
© Whitecap Consulting
Photo credit: Hargreaves Lansdown
The University of Manchester
13
© Whitecap Consulting 3
ECOSYSTEM
RESEARCH
2020
14
© Whitecap Consulting
Over the course of recent months, we have conducted
an analysis of the FinTech activity in the region, which has
included interviews, focus groups, an online survey, desk
research, and insight gathered across various events,
meetings and the course of our ongoing consulting
engagements in FinTech across the UK.
We have engaged with over 100 people to ensure we
are able to put forward a considered, well informed and
data rich report which can serve as a building block in the
evolution of the FinTech sector in the Greater Manchester
Region. This has included over 40 individual stakeholder
interviews, the vast majority of which were conducted
face to face.
We are grateful to everyone who has contributed, and
in particular, to our sponsors and partners who have
made this work possible when it was not centrally funded
or commissioned:
Report authors:
Greater Manchester Ecosystem Reseach 2020
Definitions and methodology
FinTech can be defined as the application of
technology to improve financial products and
services.
This makes it a very broad category, in which it is
acknowledged to be extremely challenging to
categorise companies and jobs, especially in the
absence of standard measures such as SIC codes.
In this report we have differentiated between three
different types of companies directly operating
within the FinTech sector:
•
FinTech startups and scaleups - pure FinTech
business models, often with a focus on disrupting
the sectors they work in.
•
Established Financial/FinTech - established
entities, offering financial products or services.
•
Tech firms - businesses operating in multiple
markets (must include serving financial services
or FinTech).
Categorising jobs within FinTech is also challenging,
as it is obviously not the case that everyone working
in established financial services or Tech is working
in FinTech. We have conducted primary research
to establish the number of jobs within FinTech
startups and scaleups and have adopted a proxy
methodology to estimate overall FinTech sector roles
within the three categories listed above.
To calculate the FinTech workforce and GVA we
have adopted the following methodology:
•
Estimated FinTech workforce = 5% of combined
FS workforce (derived from TheCityUK data)
and Tech workforce (derived from Tech Nation
data) in the research area + all identified workers
within FinTech startup & scaleup firms (Whitecap
primary research).
•
Estimated regional FinTech GVA = estimated
FinTech workforce X GVA contribution per worker
(using UK average).
In the absence of any current publicly available
estimate, the 5% estimate is based on a broadening
of a previous EY estimate from 2015 (this remains the
only estimate published to date) which suggested
5% of the FS sector is categorised as ‘FinTech’.
Research team: Michael Fletcher, Daniel Ryan, Jake Fox, Emma Harrison
Julian Wells
Director & FinTech Lead
Whitecap Consulting
Luke Freeman
Director
Whitecap Consulting
Eleanor Simmons
Consultant
Whitecap Consulting
15
© Whitecap Consulting
Overview
Greater Manchester’s FinTech scene is established and growing, and there is a
feeling within the region that the foundations necessary for the sector to flourish in
five years time have been laid.
The region has a cluster of 39 FinTech startups and scaleups, which is more than we
have found in any other region. An ever-growing number of co-working spaces are
facilitating connection and collaboration between startups, scaleups, established
organisations and other stakeholders.
The digital and wider tech sectors are also acknowledged to be strong. With more
E-commerce unicorns (5) than any other city in Europe, year on year the region
continues to see global companies set up offices in the region. Recent high-profile
additions to the region include Klarna and Amazon Web Services.
There are sufficient support networks in place to ensure prospective FinTech
entrepreneurs consider Manchester as a serious contender to set up their business.
Manchester has a number of independent bodies working to promote, represent,
better connect and address the issues faced by the FinTech sector, including
Manchester-focused entities such as MIDAS, pro-manchester, and Manchester
Digital, as well as FinTech North, which operates across the north. Momentum seems
to be building and the recent formation of a FinTech Committee (coordinated
by MIDAS and pro-manchester) illustrates there is a desire to collaborate and
communicate across the region.
There are multiple examples of firms achieving growth and receiving considerable
media attention, which is helping to paint the region in a positive light nationally and
internationally, and is creating valuable case studies.
Current status
We estimate that almost 10,000 people in Greater Manchester work in FinTech
related roles. In London this number has been estimated at 44,0008, which
illustrates the dominance of the nation’s capital in this sector.
A number of key FinTech names have a meaningful presence in the region. This
includes the likes of AccessPay, Crowdcube, Klarna, MoneySuperMarket, Adyen,
Greensill, OakNorth, Raisin and Mojo Mortgages. A significant number of these
organisations have selected Manchester as their second location outside of London.
In other regions the FinTech community is mainly made up of regionally based
organisations.
As has already been noted, there are more FinTech startups and scaleups in the
region than any other region we have researched. Recent high profile additions
have included SMS banks Revverbank and B-North. The latter is a startup led by an
experienced team, which has selected Manchester its base. Its latest funding round
raised over £2.8m, and it expects to raise a further £20m later this year.
Greater Manchester has had 3 of the 19 regionally based participants in the FCA
Sandbox to date. This is the same number as Leeds City Region and Scotland. Only
the South West has had more (5).
There is a sense within the local business community that the Fintech sector is
growing and changing rapidly, but it is not currently well enough connected or
communicated.
8FinTech in the UK, City of London Corporation 2018.
16
© Whitecap Consulting
Future potential
It was unanimously agreed amongst the interviewees of this report that Greater
Manchester’s FinTech scene has huge potential. Because the of the City centre’s
compact geographical nature, the primary players are relatively familiar with
each other. MIDAS plays a particularly active role in connecting the key actors;
tech-focused independent bodies, globally renowned universities and really strong
businesses across financial services, FinTech and the broader tech sector.
The region has the necessary components in place for the FinTech sector to thrive,
although there is a sense that these component parts would benefit from a catalyst
to inject pace and energy. This would enable the key stakeholders to put in and get
out the most they possibly can in order for the FinTech sector to flourish; namely the
startups and scaleups, established financial sector, universities, professional services
sector, investors, local authorities and representative bodies.
The key question is what does that catalyst look like? What is needed to kick-start
Greater Manchester’s FinTech scene, for which all the key components already exist?
This report makes several recommendations that could help, but at this stage in the
report we reflect on the views of the people we interviewed, which can be split into
different schools of thought.
There are those who argue it’s down to the time frame; that the FinTech sector will
pick up pace as the region’s education, transport and business support systems
develop. For others, the solution lies in facilitated co-operation between the
established financial sector and smaller players. There are also those who feel the
answer lies in more outcome-focused events and quality promotion.
Many feel the creation of a local FinTech unicorn would be the most effective
catalyst; a beacon for attracting early-stage businesses and an antidote to selling
out. It could equally be argued that the creation of such a business could be a result
of a stronger FinTech sector, rather than the catalyst to create one.
Photo credit: Francesca Limb
17
© Whitecap Consulting
Attitude towards FinTech
There is a lot of positive sentiment around FinTech and its potential within the region, as
well as on a national and international basis.
We found attitudes towards FinTech in the region to generally sit in three camps:
•
Early stage entrepreneurs often feel that there isn’t enough access to resources
such as fund-raising support, investment, potential buyers, or quality events to make
connections. Startups are highly aware that time is precious and as a result cost-value
their days; meaning expensive trips to London and networking afternoons have to be
prioritised alongside outcome-guaranteed tasks.
•
Scaleups feel Manchester offers them everything they need to grow and thrive – that
travelling, and networking are an accepted given and investment is not hard to come
by if your product is right. Some are caught between being unable to afford top talent
but equally unable to spare the time to invest in developing their own talent, but
generally have found a compromise between the two. These firms are not necessarily
interested in making FinTech-specific connections because their own journey exists
within a sector vertical.
• Professional services and the established financial sector feel they have a lot to offer
FinTechs, including both startups and scaleups. However, they are often disconnected
from the daily realities of running a small business – the fast depletion of cash, pressure
on survival-determining decisions, and the precious allocation of time.
All are equally passionate about the growth of the sector in Greater Manchester but
are (understandably) focused on the pursuit of their own commercial goals. There is an
opportunity to facilitate more communication and engagement in order to move
forward as a sector.
18
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Stakeholder quotes - key growth opportunities
“We have an unbelievable culture as a city, a work
ethic and drive. We are an unbelievable work horse of
a city, with great universities which are a phenomenal
learning ground for science led degrees.”
Richard Hayes, Co-Founder & CEO, Mojo Mortgages
“Manchester has the companies to be a successful
tech city, it’s about getting those components together
and harnessing it and having realistic expectations as
to what Manchester wants to achieve.”
Anthony Morrow, CEO, OpenMoney
“We need to recreate the trade shows they have down
in London, visibility wise. FinTech North is growing, but
there needs to be the opportunity to find people who
will buy your product, distribute or build on top of your
product – or introduce you to someone who will.”
Lee Stretton, Managing Director, Raisin UK
“Manchester has the opportunity to carve out a
niche. We are strong in the payments area, cyber
security, ethical hacking and data protection.
There are opportunities to create mini hubs out
of these sub-sectors.”
Damian McGann, Corporate Development Director, Praetura
“Manchester does seem to work well thinking as a
city region rather than as individual companies and
sectors. Its size means people can work together and
talk to each other regularly. There is an opportunity
for them to help provide support and networks. Law
firms in Manchester run their own tech schemes, as
they’ve noted the importance of tapping in. How can
professional services generally, or large accountants
and banks structure their business development and
give something back to the tech community in their
space in the process? How can they access start-ups
in the eco-system in order to innovate themselves?
And how can they ensure they open themselves up to
being pitched to for business?”
Jess Jackson, Investment Director, GC Business Angels
“The North West of England has a huge amount to
offer, as demonstrated by recent decisions of diverse
organisations such as GCHQ and Amazon to create
sizeable number of jobs here. That becomes even
stronger when the whole of the North of England
comes together to work as one, with a unified
voice to promote those positive attributes and
encourage further investment.”
Nick Edgar, Senior Director, Virgin Money UK
“All the functions you would need are in Manchester.
Although the likes of Revolut, Monzo or Curve may
not have not set up their head office in Manchester,
we need to emphasise to the market that the tools
are there to provide FinTechs everything they need to
attract the next wave of them.”
Richard Jones, Partner, Eversheds-Sutherland
“The reputation of Manchester as a FinTech centre
and ecosystem has taken massive strides forward.
The reputation of the area is certainly attracting
attention from London, European and US investment
houses which is a huge positive for the area which
we must capitalise on. I’m a great believer that if the
North grows the right quality of businesses – as we
do now – there are enough quality advisers and
networks around to access substantial capital with
the effective multiplier effect.”
Damian McGann, Corporate Development Director, Praetura
“Manchester has to be noisier - get to London, show
there’s prospects here, promote the benefits of being in
Manchester. That drum needs to be banged.”
Luke Stubbs, Partner, DLA Piper
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Areas requiring the most attention over the next 2-3 years
“Something more could always be done to get the wheels turning more quickly or
fully, whether that’s by regional or local government. There’s been an element of
reliance on the private sector to do the work on a voluntary basis.”
Luke Stubbs, Partner, DLA Piper
“We could do with a dedicated FinTech hub. I think a membership body in the
model of Innovate Finance would be more valuable than more co-working space.
Someone who’s only focused on FinTechs to take ownership of activities. Whether
that’s providing access to the regulator, funding, or banks and other FinTechs. It
needs to be driven really by the FinTechs. We need a mechanism to feed in what
they want.”
Rachel Eyre, Business Development Manager, FS, MIDAS
“Ideally we would have an environment where the senior people at these businesses
were more vocal. One of the challenges is that a lot of FinTechs in Manchester are
branches – the C Suite aren’t here, the decision makers aren’t here. I’d find it good
to be able to interact with more owner managers at events.”
Anthony Morrow, CEO, OpenMoney
“There are accelerator programs for the retail and water industry, where they’ll
go and find 20 startups, partner them with a large utility company, take real world
problems and ask them to solve it, and it might lead to a commercial agreement
and investment.”
Jeremy Thompson, Investment Director, Maven
Biggest obstacles to growth of FinTech in the region
“It’s hard to know where these challenger banks are going – all have done well
building brand acquiring customer, but they are struggling to monetize
the customer.”
Jeremy Thompson, Investment Director, Maven
“Common areas that startups need support with are investment readiness, building a
strong pitch deck and knowing when and how to raise funding. We could always do
with more practical how-to advice and education.”
Mo Aldalou, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Tech Nation
“We need to learn from other sectors who are doing more to challenge the skills
gap. We need to make sure newer FinTechs aren’t making the same mistakes.”
Ilona Alcock, Sector Group Manager, pro-manchester
“You could be based next door, it’s still going to take you a year to get in to that
business - it’s hard to access funding in certain brackets, that’s true UK wide, hard to
raise early seed rounds.”
Aine McTiernan, Programme Lead, PWC Scale
“In the past founders have developed their business for three years and then exited,
and the business leaves Manchester. We haven’t made a unicorn. We need to give
founders the incentive to see the dream through, because otherwise Manchester is
just going to have call centres for FinTech businesses.”
Damian McGann, Corporate Development Director, Praetura
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Findings and recommendations
Key findings
Recommendations
Key stakeholders
Talent
• As is the case across the rest of the UK, senior tech
talent is not always readily available and can be
expensive to secure.
• Manchester is investing in graduate and entry
level talent which will combat the shortage in
years to come.
• Graduates are keen to stay in the region but a
more pro-active link between businesses and the
universities could increase retention rate.
•
It would be beneficial for more career paths in FinTech
related roles to be articulated more clearly.
• Organisations should continue to invest in the
development of graduate and apprenticeship talent,
considering their own academies and development
schemes and working.
• A more proactive link between businesses and the
universities could increase the graduate retention in the region.
•
Public sector
• Major employers
•
Universities and colleges
Established financial
sector
•
There is a significant presence of major financial
organisations, with over 230,000 employed in the
financial and professional sector.
•
Some large banks have actively engaged with
the local business community via physical spaces
and accelerator schemes.
•
Encourage the established organisations in the region
to have a more open external dialogue on FinTech and
tech.
• Create opportunities (events or otherwise) for senior
executives of financial services organisations to spend time
in the region.
•
Facilitators and support organisations can help ensure
FinTech startup propositions cater to the requirement of
bigger players.
•
Large financial services
employers
•
Professional services firms
•
FinTech and tech bodies,
including event organisers
Tech sector
•
There is a large and growing tech presence in
Manchester, with the presence of global brands
such as Google and Amazon and adding to the
region’s credibility as a tech hub.
• Manchester is home to five ecommerce tech
unicorns, more than any other European city.
•
There are a number of regional bodies working
independently to further the interest of tech in
Manchester.
• Continue to promote Manchester as a key player and
tech leader in the North.
•
Encourage key tech players to give back to the eco-
system and education system through events and
appearances.
• Major financial services and
tech employers
FinTech startups/scaleups
• Greater Manchester has more FinTech startups
and scaleups than any other region in England
outside London.
•
The FinTech startup and scaleup sector is made
up of an eclectic mix of FinTech brands operating
across a range of markets and disciplines.
•
There is a feeling within the region that the sector
can become considerably stronger over the
coming years.
•
Establish support groups for specific sectors within FinTech
(payments, savings, investment) and, despite low
numbers, build from the ground up.
•
Provide more focused support via initiatives such as
Access to Finance.
•
Identify ways to provide more support at scaleup level.
•
Funding experts / advisers
•
FinTech and tech bodies,
including event organisers
• Operators of physical hubs/
co-working spaces
•
FinTech and tech bodies,
including event organisers
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Key findings
Recommendations
Key stakeholders
Relationship between
financial sector and
FinTechs
•
The established financial and professional
services sectors are supportive of the growing
FinTech community.
• Opportunities for engagement and relationship
building are primarily event focused.
•
FinTechs may find it more viable to target
medium-sized financial sector organisations.
•
Increase collaboration between startups, scaleups
and bigger players (facilitated by intermediaries) who
can work to establish how one can serve the other;
i.e. days facilitated to solve a particular business
problem and FinTechs invited to attend.
•
Structured process for FinTechs to submit their business
solutions to bigger players.
• Major employers in financial
and tech sectors
•
Professional services firms
•
FinTech and tech bodies,
including event organisers
Funding for FinTech
• Manchester has a significant cluster of private
equity firms and is the highest ranking northern
city for investment activity.
•
There is a shortage of early stage funding for
FinTech startups and this is partly as a result of a
reluctance of investors to provide funding into
sectors they are not familiar with.
•
There is an opportunity to better align investors
and entrepreneurs.
•
Provide education for investors and entrepreneurs,
detailing how to successfully invest in a promising
FinTech business, and how best to tailor your
proposition and pitch deck to maximise chances of
investment.
•
Investor events where FinTechs have the opportunity
to present.
• Workshops addressing the tech angel investor gap
and developing solutions to solve it.
•
Investors
•
Funding experts / advisers
•
FinTech and tech bodies,
including event organisers
Physical spaces/hubs
• Manchester is home to a growing number of
co-working and collaborative workspaces,
including structured accelerators.
•
There is a dedicated FinTech accelerator in the
city, within NatWest’s Accelerator Hub.
•
Focus FinTech specific support around existing tech
hubs and co-working spaces to attract a cluster.
•
Promotion of co-working spaces in conjunction with
FinTechs that sit in them.
• Operators of physical hubs/
co-working spaces
•
FinTech and tech bodies,
including event organisers
Interaction between
key players
•
There is an established and growing FinTech
community within Greater Manchester, with
networking events and seminars acting as a
focal point.
• Many of the key players are well known to
each other, which helps with connectivity
introductions within the region.
• A Manchester FinTech Committee has been
set up by pro-manchester and MIDAS, with
representatives from across the ecosystem.
• Manchester FinTech Committee and others creating
outcome-focused events with pre-agreed take-
aways to encourage a higher FinTech turnout.
• A set of promotional initiatives with comms profiling
Manchester’s up-and-coming FinTech talent.
•
Intermediaries to facilitate structured connections
between professional services, scaleups and startups
to ensure all parties can get what they need.
• Major employers in financial
and tech sectors
•
Professional services firms
•
FinTech and tech bodies,
including event organisers
Role of the universities
•
Each of Manchester’s three biggest universities
either has FinTech courses or an employee
responsible for facilitating collaboration
between FinTech businesses and university
research.
•
The University of Manchester has received a
£2.5million donation from Greensill to boost the
region’s capacity and capability in FinTech.
• University-led infrastructure and initiatives to better
facilitate FinTechs working with universities on
research projects outside KPIs.
• University FinTech courses /academics could create
direct strategic links with FinTech companies in
order to better facilitate graduate recruitment and
experience.
• Universities
• Major employers in financial
and tech sectors
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Much like the rest of the UK, senior developer talent is
not consistently readily available in Manchester. A wide
range of organisations we interviewed reported long-
standing vacancies, including large established firms
and early stage businesses.
Like most other cities, Manchester’s talent network is
cyclical, with the large tech firms providing a training
ground which subsequently acts as a feeder of skilled
individuals into the wider business sector. Major organisations
such as Amazon, GCHQ, UK Fast, and Autotrader were
regularly mentioned, amongst others.
There are cases where startups need senior talent quickly
for a short period of time, and this isn’t always serviceable.
One startup CEO reported investing three months of
financially focused training in a developer who then
left for a much larger organisation. Similarly, a number of
CEOs feel the pressure to engage and stimulate developers
with consistently business-focused and technically
challenging roles.
Manchester businesses have taken a proactive approach to
the skills shortage. Many are willing to invest in graduate and
coding-school talent, providing on the job training in order to
drive retention and company loyalty. OpenMoney, a FinTech,
runs apprenticeship schemes across every area of the business,
providing structured career progression. Although startups
themselves can’t offer a structured career development
path, they can provide exposure to senior leaders and the
opportunity for responsibility. For example, at Collctiv, a
graduate employee works alongside the CTO, an opportunity
that would not be available in a larger organisation.
Large financial companies have been seen to invest in
tech talent to suit their requirements at a specific time. For
example, several years ago when BNY Mellon struggled to
recruit a niche type of financial role, it developed a banking
qualification in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan
University. This created roles and expertise that hadn’t
previously existed in Manchester and helped encourage
other large banks to move similar roles and functions here.
To use a more recent example, Accesspay works closely
with The University of Manchester, helping to develop
Masters courses by presenting business problems to students
who work on projects to solve them.
The supply of graduate talent in FinTech subjects is increasing.
Manchester Metropolitan University’s FinTech Masters course
has grown by over 50% since its 2018 inception, from 11
to 17 students. The University of Manchester currently has
no dedicated FinTech teaching programme but this year
launched its first optional module for students of Accounting
& Finance and is developing further teaching modules to
be available in future academic years. It also has an active
interest in this field amongst the wider student population
from maths & computer science to social sciences. It filled its
allocated 50 spaces for London’s FinTech4Life event in just a
few days and generated a huge waiting list.
Talent is a broader issue than the graduate pool. Freshly
trained tech talent is being supplied by the likes of
Northcoders and Code Nation. Code Nation provides three-
month apprenticeships financed through the apprenticeship
levy (and therefore free to sponsoring businesses); their cohort
is growing year on year. Code Nation told us FinTech is the
fastest-growing sector in terms of engagement. Code Nation
works with over 200 businesses recruiting for tech talent
across the UK and has campuses in the city centre and at
Trafford College where their over-subscribed bootcamps
take place, training 20 candidates per classroom per
quarter.
For Manchester, a large part of the answer to the shortage
of tech roles may simply come with time; the ecosystem
is undergoing a period of growth and in five years the
strength and depth of the tech talent pool will be stronger.
In the meantime, continuing to focus on the training and
retention of the region’s graduates, which exceed 36,000 in
number each year and the development of a pool of non-
graduate tech talent are clearly areas of priority, along with
enhancing the levels of engagement between the business
community and universities.
Availability of talent
As is the case across the rest of
the UK, senior tech talent is not
always readily available and
can be expensive to secure
Graduates are keen to stay in the region
but a more pro-active link between
businesses and the universities could
increase retention rate
Manchester is investing in
graduate and entry level talent
which will combat the shortage
in years to come
23
© Whitecap Consulting
Stakeholder quotes
“We have seen lots of great people for sales, account
management, and technical roles, but we do not
always find that magic ingredient first time.”
Colin Neil, SVP Business Development, Adyen
“I’d like to have a pool of ten really good salespeople;
I think finding good salespeople for any business is
difficult.”
Jeremy Thompson, Investment Director, Maven
“I still don’t think the education system is doing enough
to produce this type of talent. I was at a school in
north Manchester on behalf of Innovate Finance, and
there was a distinct lack of understanding of what a
software engineer even was – it’s unbelievable.”
Richard Hayes, Co-Founder & CEO, Mojo Mortgages
“It’s a cyclical process – when On The Beach received
funding, every Ruby on Rails developer went there
because they paid more – two years later, those
developers fed back into the talent pool with an
increase in talent and skill.”
Rupert Wingate-Saul, Investment Director, FWS Advisory
“We do apprenticeships for school leavers, with a
proper salary, role, and solid experience across the
business. We are also developing a relationship with
the universities.”
Anthony Morrow, CEO, OpenMoney
“I found recruiting talent super difficult. I needed a
developer who knew financial accountancy and tax,
not vanilla developers, and there is a serious lack of
these. I had to invest and train my developer to build
the product for a finite period of time.”
Shoayb Patel, CEO, RD Vault
“With increasing automation there is a growing
demand for people with technical skills, such as
machine learning and coding, yet organisations still
need human interfaces, both internally and externally.
That leaves a gap in the market for people with a
combination of technical knowledge and so-called
‘soft’ skills… that’s the gap in the market we’re trying
to fill – to create people that are the conduit between
‘techies’ and the decision makers.”
Niels Pedersen, MMU
“I know a Tech entrepreneur in Manchester. He
would love to hire someone from North Coders,
but they need people who can get on with it
straight away.”
Anonymous
“We hired staff from cities such as London and Exeter
who relocated to work at Nivo’s office in Manchester.
We didn’t have any issue attracting talent here.”
Mat Elliott, Co-Founder, Nivo
“I previously worked in Sheffield with an office in
Manchester. For every tech applicant in Sheffield, we
had 7 in Manchester and 5 in Leeds.”
Amy Whitell, CEO and Co-Founder, Collctiv
“We attract FinTech companies to Manchester and
would like to develop the ecosystem of support for
when companies have landed. We don’t want the
FinTech sector to become overheated and for roles to
become more contract led, rather than permanent
work.”
Rachel Eyre, Business Development Manager, FS, MIDAS
“There needs to be more promotion of
Apprenticeships, the Levy and the Matchmaking
service - they can essentially provide training for
free and businesses are missing out. We also need to
change the stereotype and rebrand Apprenticeships
as a whole.”
Charlie Lord, Digital and Content, Code Nation
24
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The presence of the financial sector is strong in the region,
and many major banks and financial institutions have
offices in Manchester.
Between June 2018 and 2019, there were 40,357
people working for banks and building societies in
Greater Manchester; and 230,700 working in the wider
financial,business and professional services category,
making up 17.5% of the total Greater Manchester
workforce. There are 4,300 financial services firms in Greater
Manchester, 5.7% of the total UK firms.
Traditionally, Manchester’s financial sector has been
viewed as largely back office and operations focused.
In our interviews, we heard a common view that having
operational functions of established financial institutions in
Greater Manchester rather than thought leaders risks fewer
spin-outs or ex-employees branching out to start their own
initiatives.
In terms of head office and meaningful management
presence in Manchester, most decision makers are still
based in London, making it harder for FinTech entrepreneurs
in Manchester to network efficiently. Consequently, they
consider they are less likely to meet people who can affect
change for their business at an event or through a contact.
There are senior executives in Manchester, but often
FinTechs selling into or partnering with established financial
players will have to travel to London to do so.
This isn’t always seen as a negative; having a global financial
hub just two hours away is regarded by many as a real asset
and selling point for Manchester. However, entrepreneurs
as a result become reliant on meeting-filled trips to London
(chances reduced if meetings are cancelled) and less able
to flexibly exploit a local network.
In the last 10-15 years Manchester has seen the arrival of
RBS’ payments team as well as a number of Cyber Security
firms, while the core strength of the region in ecommerce
contributes a strong presence of companies in fields such as
payments, consumer lending, and debt management.
Key players include:
• AJ Bell
•
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
•
Barclays
•
BNY Mellon
• Co-op Bank
• HSBC
•
RBS / NatWest
Manchester has a number of strong medium-sized players
in the financial services market including Together, Think
Money, Freedom Finance and Ocean Finance.
Some of the large banking brands have actively engaged
with the local business community in Barclays Eagle Labs
and NatWest run accelerator programmes from their hubs in
Manchester, while Virgin Money operates a ‘store’ in central
Manchester (previously known as B Works) which provides
open access workspace and is a popular events venue.
NatWest operates a specialist national FinTech accelerator
programme, and its Manchester Entrepreneurial Hub is one
of only four FinTech hubs run by the bank across the UK
(the others are in London, Bristol and Edinburgh). Since the
accelerators launched in 2018, over 180 FinTechs have been
supported across the UK. The bank itself has run 8 Proof of
Concept trials and signed contracts with 4 of the firms.
There is a significant
presence of major financial
organisations, with over
230,000 people employed in
the sector
Some large banks have actively
engaged with the local business
community via physical spaces
and accelerator schemes
Strength of the established Financial sector
“The perception is that there’s lots of jobs in
Manchester, but I’m not sure there’s that much in
the way of senior management team and decision-
making control.”
Dave Broadbent, CFO and Founder, B-North
“Bigger giants are more likely to build Manchester into
a higher paced and more aspirational environment.
You want huge aspiration, which isn’t necessarily there
at the moment. Manchester FinTechs aren’t going
deep enough or thinking new."
“Accelerators aren’t necessarily the answer. I’m
happy that we’re past accelerator stage, it gives you
money (sometimes) and space but often takes equity,
meaning that often companies find they have cap
table issues afterwards.”
Tim Dempsey, CEO, Epiphany Capital
“We’re missing a Regulator and access to banking – as
a FinTech sector, not having the FCA on our doorstep
makes it more challenging, it means a day in London
for us. The Regulator could do more to get involved
with businesses outside of London.”
Richard Hayes, CEO and Co-Founder, Mojo
“An obvious way in, is to sell into the big tech
companies and unicorns; think about who is here and
how you can serve them.”
Luke Stubbs, Partner, DLA Piper
25
© Whitecap Consulting
Stakeholder quotes
Photo credit: Francesca Limb
26
© Whitecap Consulting
Manchester has a thriving tech scene, with a strong
mix of tech companies, tech centres of international
and national institutions, as well as Manchester born
companies expanding their tech capability. There are
5,520 tech firms in the Greater Manchester Region and
the annual revenue from the tech sector is £4.98 billion.
Greater Manchester’s annual revenue from the tech
sector is £4.98 billion.
MIDAS has conducted a LinkedIn data analysis, finding
88,000 people have Manchester on their profile and work for
a company in the tech industry. This figure is likely to be higher
in reality as it doesn’t include people who don’t use LinkedIn
or those who may have another location on their profile but
work in Manchester.
The region’s tech sector is being recognised on a national
level. The Grand Final of this year’s Tech Nation’s Rising
Stars programme features three companies from Greater
Manchester; Tootoot, UrbanChain and Culture Shift. No other
region has more representatives, with London the only other
location to have three participants. It was announced at the
end of January that two Manchester scaleups, Arctic Shores
and Pimberly, have been selected to be part of Tech Nation’s
Upscale programme, joining a cohort of 30 companies.
Tech Nation also runs an annual growth programme to give
pre-Series A FinTech companies the support and tools they
need to scale. Their FinTech 2.0 programme attracted more
than 10 applications from companies across the North West
and the cohort includes Manchester-based Goodbox.
There are a number of representative bodies supporting
the tech sector in the region. MIDAS works nationally and
internationally to bring tech firms and jobs to the region,
while Tech Nation supports the growth of the tech sector
nationally and regionally and has an Entrepreneur
Engagement Manager covering the North West. There are
many more supporting organisations active in the region,
Manchester Digital is a membership body that exists to
represent and promote the interests of tech companies
in Manchester; Tech Manchester connects players in the
tech community, furthering engagement and collaboration
and raising the city’s profile on an international scale;
the Manchester Tech Trust promotes and supports tech
enterprise in Greater Manchester; Techcelerate supports tech
entrepreneurs with their investment and funding. The first ever
The Digital City Festival took place in Manchester in March
2020 for 5 days, organised by Don’t Panic and Prolific North in
partnership with Capita.
In the last 18 months, tech roles have been created in the
region by major brands including Jaguar Landover, Hewlett
Packard, GCHQ, Amazon and TalkTalk. Manchester has 5
ecommerce tech unicorns; The Hut Group, Boohoo, AO.com,
Autotrader and Onthebeach.com, reflecting its position as a
global e-commerce hub. Amazon alone will create 600 tech
roles over the next couple of years.
The stories of tech expansion are plentiful: The Hut Group is
building a one million sq ft business campus at Airport City;
GCHQ will locate its new cutting-edge intelligence facility
in the region; Moonpig will open a new tech hub in the
city centre; Amazon has opened offices across six floors of
Manchester’s Hanover building; Aviva is investing £300m to
support Allied London’s Enterprise City development on the
site of the former Granada television studios, while most
recently Huawei announced the opening of their first North
West office, sitting upwards of 20 roles in MediaCity UK’s Blue
Tower, to be doubled by 2022.
There is also strong growth in the tech consulting space. BJSS
is a tech consultancy with its origins in financial services, and
announced in December 2019 it is to take on new offices and
recruit 50 additional staff in Manchester as part of a seven-
figure investment. Infinity Works is another prominent tech
consultancy. Headquartered in Leeds with further offices in
London, Manchester & Edinburgh it currently employs 450
staff and expects to hire 60-70 more people in 2020. The
Manchester division has enjoyed accelerated growth. Slalom,
a global tech and data focused consultancy, opened a
Manchester office in April 2019, with an aspiration to create
200 jobs by 2025.
There is a large and growing tech
presence in Manchester, with the
presence of global brands such as
Google and Amazon and
adding to the region’s
credibility as a tech hub
Manchester is home to five
ecommerce tech unicorns, more
than any other city in Europe
Strength of the overall Tech sector
There are a number of regional
bodies working independently
to further the interest of tech in
Manchester
27
© Whitecap Consulting
“It’s great that Manchester is seen as a second city after
London in tech expertise and strength. There are lower
rates of attrition in the north, and great possibilities with
working Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. Not everyone
knows about these.”
Jo Sheerin, Head of Deal Origination M&A, KPMG
“The tech community is reasonably close knit. There’s a
fairly substantial amount of press in terms of digital and
tech capability. It’s discussed a lot – government are
taking it quite seriously.”
Katie Gallagher, Managing Director, Manchester Digital
“Manchester’s tech sector continues to go from strength
to strength.”
Damian McGann, Corporate Development Director, Praetura
“Manchester's tech sector is really thriving and the
wheels of the ecosystem are in motion! Most of the
events I attend are sector agnostic but the city's Fintech
sector is now strong enough to warrant more and more
dedicated events and meetups - it's a great way to bring
the community together.”
Mo Aldalou, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Tech Nation
“It’s changed in the 15 years since I’ve been in
Manchester. High tech businesses - Disney, Booking.com
and The Hut Group have arrived. There is a strong tech
community with lots of meet ups and conferences. Tech
is definitely a strong suit of Manchester, so we can and
should support more tech businesses.”
Aleksa Vukotic, CTO, thestartupfactory.tech
“If you look globally, in terms of number of businesses
and contribution to the economy, the tech sector
in Manchester is buoyant and thriving. People want
to harness that to create the best opportunities
for businesses in that sector. There’s a drive and
dynamism to promote Tech and particularly Fintech in
Manchester. From the universities and the professional
community, to key bodies like MIDAS and pro-
manchester, to businesses themselves, there is a
real feeling of dynamism, collegiality, ambition and
collective purpose.”
Matthew Davies, Partner, CMS
Stakeholder quotes
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Established in Leeds in 1993, BJSS has grown
organically to become the UK’s leading privately
-owned IT and business consultancy.
Operating from ten locations across the UK (Leeds, London,
Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol,
Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and two in the US (New
York and Houston), the company employs 1300 consultants
and last year had annual revenue of £140m.
Most people in the UK will have made use of at least
one of the award-winning solutions BJSS has delivered.
From booking a flight to booking a hospital appointment,
online shopping to online banking, BJSS has helped clients
transform their business.
BJSS is a strategic delivery partner for leading retail and
investment banks, financial institutions and FinTechs,
and has achieved a number of ‘firsts’ in the sector. From
an initial engagement to re-engineer back office systems
for a European stock exchange, the company went on to
transform the systems supporting 60% of the global interbank
Foreign Exchange transactions. In retail banking, BJSS
ensured its client was the first in the UK to support Apple Pay.
In 2005 BJSS delivered the world’s first P2P lending platform
for its start-up client and has since supported many more
new entrants to transform online banking, mortgage
applications, payments and wealth management.
A reputation for excellence earned in the financial
services sector has enabled BJSS to expand into other
industries including retail, healthcare and central
government. Recent engagements have included
replacing nationally significant technology infrastructure
working with NHS Digital, transformed the operation of
several government departments and delivering the award-
winning transformation of a retail membership programme.
BJSS has always worked to enable its clients to take
advantage of advances in technology to deliver more
value, more quickly. In 2018, the company was
awarded a Queen’s Award for Innovation in recognition
of its successful software delivery approach that ensures
high quality solutions to complex business problems
across a range of industries.
Growth has exceeded industry norms for the past five
years, and this trend looks set to continue. BJSS’ success
has contributed to establishing the region as a tech centre,
creating jobs and attracting talented people to the area.
With exciting growth plans across the UK and beyond, the
company continues to recruit and retain the best skills from
a diverse talent pool by offering the chance to work in a
unique culture and the opportunity to contribute to some
of the most rewarding client engagements.
CASE STUDY: Shaping FinTech innovation for over 25 years
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Greater Manchester has a wide range of successful
startups and scale ups. Our research identified 39
firms, which is considerably higher than any of the
other regions researched to date. The next highest
was Bristol & Bath, with 28 firms.
Prominent brands include Accesspay, ACE Money Transfer,
ArroMoney, Auden, Bankifi, B-North, Fluent Money, HelloSoda,
Nivo, and Sheildpay, all of which have head offices in
Manchester. Macclesfield-based Mojo is an increasingly high
profile mortgage FinTech which is highly engaged in the
Manchester FinTech scene.
Whilst we have found there to be a comparatively large
number of early stage FinTechs in the region, there was a
feeling amongst those we interviewed that there is a lack
of strength and depth, and the sector can become much
stronger and larger in scale. However, many view the size
of Manchester’s startup and scale up FinTech community
as an advantage; it means that new players become
bigger names in a smaller pool more quickly and therefore
get more attention.
Manchester’s bigger FinTech names are leading the way in
establishing the city’s FinTech reputation. Manchester is yet to
have a homegrown FinTech unicorn although it does have
offices of several FinTech unicorns including OakNorth, which
in 2019 was feted as being Europe’s most valuable FinTech
with a valuation of $2.8 billion Klarna, OakNorth, Flywire, Radius
Payment Solutions all have a base in region, and Greensill
has a presence in Warrington but is actively involved in the
Manchester ecosystem.
There is a desire within the region to see more promotion
and profile to put greater momentum behind the growth of
the Manchester FinTech scene, attracting press, partner and
investor attention. With or without home grown unicorns, there
is common consensus that having case studies and success
stories around FinTechs who have grown in the region can
play a central role in raising the profile of the FinTech offer in
the region. This can pave the way for earlier stage businesses
to prosper and can attract more firms to the region.
As FinTech firms often have their focus on a specific
sector, it is not always the case that they find it valuable to
engage regularly with other FinTechs with different areas of
focus. Furthermore, Manchester has talent and expertise
concentrated in certain areas that overlap with FinTech (i.e.
Cyber-Security), so FinTech can be one of a number of sectors
that are relevant to an organisation.
The scaleup support on offer in the region is seen to be
relatively strong. Tech Nation, the Business Growth Hub and
PwC’s Scale programmes are all aimed at companies making
the jump from 50 to 200 staff and helping them tackle the
associated growth challenges.
In common with the view we have heard in other regions,
the FinTechs we spoke to felt they would benefit from a more
regular (or permanent) presence of the regulator in the region.
In a heavily regulated industry like Financial Services, proximity
to the Financial Conduct Authority would be seen as a key
enabler to the development of FinTechs in Manchester.
Greater Manchester has more
FinTech startups and scaleups
than any other region in
England outside London.
The FinTech startup and scaleup
sector is made up of an eclectic mix
of FinTech brands operating across a
range of markets and disciplines.
Strength of the FinTech startup/scaleup community
There is a feeling within the region that
the sector can become considerably
stronger over the coming years.
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Northern start-ups get boost with equIP North
Starting and building a successful business takes a good idea, energy
and determination. Many tech startups push legal advice to the
bottom of the priority list. However, for a business to scale successfully,
especially when investors are involved, having the right foundations is
imperative.
CMS, one of the world’s largest law firms, has created equIP North, a
specially tailored program to support intellectual property rich startups
across the North of England. equIP North offers:
• Heavily discounted legal fees
•
Fixed fee services, designed specifically for start-ups, including
health checks for IP, employment, GDPR and corporate issues
•
Introductions to relevant industry players and key investor markets
•
Exclusive training and mentoring opportunities.
More information about CMS’s equIP North initiative, which is free to
join, can be found here, or by contacting Matthew Davies, Partner
and Head of equIP North
Photo credit: The University of Manchester
“In 5 years’ time I’d like Manchester to be home to
2 or 3 new FinTech unicorns and we absolutely have
the ability to make that happen. We have all the raw
ingredients – talented workforce, infrastructure and
financial services firms that are world class – as such I
feel very confident about the future.”
Damian McGann, Corporate Development Director, Praetura
“There isn’t the seniority of talent in Manchester. There
are lots of companies selling tech to financial services
firms, but that’s probably not scalable. Currently, I
think Manchester is full of me-too FinTechs who are
late to the game and trying to compete with well-
funded players. Deep FinTech –i.e. integrating systems
to shave time off a transaction or innovating around
infrastructure – we don’t see so much of.”
Tim Dempsey, CEO, Epiphany Capital
“Manchester is great for outsourcing a high calibre
individual. Setting up in Manchester has significantly
lower costs in terms of getting off the ground.
However, even Mojo are considering a presence in
London because of the frequency of our trips there.”
Richard Hayes, CEO and Co-Founder, Mojo
“Maybe it comes down to money. You hear a lot of
rhetoric from the government, but are we seeing as
much investment? Local government can only do so
much with their funding. The importance of companies
like MIDAS is huge, but there is only so much they can
realistically do.”
Richard Jones, Partner, Eversheds- Sutherland
“Not a huge proportion of our FinTech clients are
Manchester based, but perhaps they don’t know our
value add. There needs to be an education piece
around what FinTechs need from their insurance. The
main issues my FinTech clients have is regulation. In
Gibraltar, regulators are much easier to deal with –
they’re open to working with FinTechs and businesses.”
Mark Robinson, Client Director, Verlingue UK
“Small startups can be over ambitious - getting in front
of someone like RBS before they’re ready. There’s not
much support for them getting where they want to be.”
Rachel Eyre, Business Development Manager, FS, MIDAS
“There’s no shortage of new and exciting tech startups
in Manchester but it’s crucial that there is enough
support to help those companies scale.
There’s a lack of support for scaleups – people think
that once you have scaled, that’s it, you don’t need
help. But to get from Accesspay to a JustEat, from 50
to 200 staff, you make huge company changes.”
Mo Aldalou, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Tech Nation
“There is a space for something more sophisticated in
terms of credit referencing. The banks remain under
pressure to lend but their approach often focuses on a
long track record. This makes it much more difficult for
companies that are scaling quickly but have limited
historical information. How companies are credit
scored goes to how they access finance. That’s a
massive opportunity.”
Rupert Wingate-Saul, Investment Director, FWS Advisory
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Stakeholder quotes
Photo credit: Francesac Limb
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The established financial and professional services
sectors in Manchester support the FinTech community
in a number of ways, including providing work and
event spaces, actively participating in events and
other initiatives, and investing time in supporting
inwards investment activity to bring more firms
into the region.
NatWest, Barclays and Virgin Money all provide physical
spaces for entrepreneurs and businesses, with the NatWest
Entrepreneurial Hub and Barclays Eagle Labs programmes
also including formal support structures for startups. NatWest
runs an annual payments hackathon from its Spinningfields
offices. Law firm CMS operates equIP North, a programme to
support startups looking to scale up in the North of England,
providing them with legal support, introductions and other
added value.
Opportunities to connect and collaborate are mainly found in
an event context. FinTech North, pro-manchester, Manchester
Digital and Business Cloud are amongst the organisations
who have run FinTech events in the city, which are typically
attended by established organisations and early stage firms.
One FinTech founder told us she was approached by a
mainstream bank at a FinTech North event and had also met
major financial and FinTech brands via their involvement in
WeWork Labs.
FinTechs across the region had mixed experiences of the
relative ease of establishing links with larger financial players.
Having initial meetings in Manchester was commonly reported,
but many said they then had to travel to London to meet
decision makers. The city would benefit from a facilitator
creating opportunities for mutual value discovery – opening
lines of communication so that FinTechs can work to tailor their
offering to the pain points of larger incumbents.
While some cite the lack of proximity to decision makers as a
blocker to selling their FinTech solution in to a bigger player,
others believe this forces a hard networking approach which is
good training when starting a business, and that where you’re
based shouldn’t matter. Nevertheless, developing products
that solve specific problems for banks’ internal structures and
are therefore more marketable requires insider understanding.
The ability to tailor a proposition is inevitably made easier by
regular opportunities to speak to internal stakeholders.
A number of people interviewed believed there to be a
fundamental misfit between the size and operating processes
of the established financial sector and smaller FinTechs. The
decision-making timespan of a national bank can be many
months – eating up valuable time and cost for early stage
FinTechs. There can also be a tension between startups’ desire
for advice and connections and protecting their individuality
and product roadmap. Some suggest that the answer to
collaboration is individual ownership; one innovation-driven role
in a bank with the responsibility of navigating compliance, risk
and other hurdles on behalf of the FinTech.
FinTechs may find it more viable to target medium-sized players
rather than the large multi-nationals as the sales cycle is likely
to be shorter and less complicated. This would enable FinTechs
to refine product / sales processes and demonstrate traction
more easily. Relatively new financial services providers may
also prove to be sources of opportunity, as newer entrants
can be more open to innovation and are less constrained by
legacy systems.
Nivo found success by working with Manchester’s medium
-sized players at an early stage of the company’s
development, working with Freedom Finance to prove the
value of its technology. This led to better insight around how to
improve the product, referenceable case studies, and advocacy,
all of which have been key to Nivo’s growth in that market.
The established financial and
professional services sectors
are supportive of the
growing FinTech community
Relationship between startups/scaleups
& established Financial Sector
Opportunities for engagement and
relationship building are primarily
event focused
FinTechs may find it more viable
to target medium-sized financial
sector organisations
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Stakeholder quotes
“I feel very strongly that both sides could benefit
from being connected. Startups may lack in-depth
regulatory and compliance knowledge, while
established players can lack closeness to the consumer,
and the freedom to pivot and innovate. The difficulty
is that I’d be hesitant to bring my company close to
the big corporates, because your USP is that you’re
not like those guys. We can listen and respond to our
customers, making instant changes to our product.”
Amy Whitell, CEO and Co-Founder, Collctiv
“We haven’t seen a big explosion in collaboration;
banks can still be relatively cautious because there
are significant compliance and risk considerations.
Banks can take 6-12 months to make a decision,
that’s a lifetime to a small FinTech. There’s an interesting
dynamic there.”
Luke Stubbs, Partner, DLA Piper
“FinTechs have the opportunity to become a tech
solution for the banks, and white label what they do
and get paid for it. Conversations are easily facilitated
in Manchester – the problems is the difference in size
of organisation. Big Financial Services often don't have
an R&D team, but they do subcontract to smaller
organisations. However, startups are concerned about
corporate investment because of control over the
roadmap.”
Jeremy Thompson, Investment Director, Maven
“It’s a cultural problem. A bank will kick a project three
months down the line just like that. A FinTech can drop
off the agenda in a meeting and be rescheduled for 9
months’ time.”
Rupert Wingate-Saul, Investment Director, FWS Advisory
“The big organisations need someone who will own the
process and have a team to drive it forward. Someone
in the bank who has responsibility for that pocket of money,
and decision-making power. A Head of Innovation, or
Partnerships. Even still, deals fall down all the time when
procurement, legal and risk get involved.”
Aine McTiernan, Programme Lead, PwC Scale
“If mutual collaboration is to work, they need to work
out what they can do for each other. If we have
FinTechs in the north with tech that can help the banks,
they need to have the opportunity to communicate that.”
Richard Jones, Partner, Eversheds-Sutherland
“Big companies say they want to work with FinTechs.
People are enthusiastic and make promises, but in
reality, they have to-do lists and bosses. Instead of
innovation departments which waste so much money,
Monzo and Revolut buy in solutions. The Challenger
banks have an application process that actually gives
startups the means to discuss and partner.”
Sam Patchitt, CEO, Finstant

“The main obstacle for the scaleups and startups
we work with is access – access to the right advice,
people, funding opportunities and those other elements
that allow them to grow and successfully move to the
next stage of their evolution. The key for the collective
success of Tech and Fintech in Manchester and the
North West is about embedding and developing
the strong foundations and interconnectivity of the
ecosystem in terms of support infrastructure and making
it more readily available to those businesses looking to
scale-up and grow.” Matthew Davies, Parner, CMS
“I don’t think that startups should count on big banks to
be their first foundational client base. We’re engaged
with most of the high street banks. They bring exciting
revenue potential, of course, but it’s not smart to
count on them landing because those deals are
very volatile with uncertain timescales and complex
governance. We designed our service to deliver value
to organisations of any size, all to top bank governance
standards. This allows us to balance higher value higher
risk deals and lower value lower risk deals.”
Mat Elliott, Co-Founder, Nivo
“Ownership of that relationship needs industry bodies. pro-
manchester and Manchester Digital have relationships with
both big and small and have that mechanism to support
that. What is there is working, we just need to make FinTechs
more aware of what’s out there.”
Rachel Eyre, Business Development Manager, FS, MIDAS
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Manchester has the second highest number of
private equity firms in Europe, behind London, and
there is a wealth of private equity investors in the
city; Mercia, Maven, YFM, Praetura, GC Angels, and
many more.
In June 2019, Sifted used Pitchbook data to rank non-capital
cities across Europe by the number and value of angel,
seed and early stage VC deals closed between 2013-18.
Manchester was ranked 8th, making it the highest-ranking
northern city. The north is also performing well, with KPMG
recently reporting that venture capital investments in the
north grew by 37% in 2019. This surpassed 22% growth in the
UK nationally, finding the value of northern venture capital
deals reached £343.5 million. On a national basis, FinTech
was highlighted as a key sector, along with HealthTech.
However, there are no FinTech or tech-specific funds in the
city; and disproportionately less for seed and angel stage
funding. There is a commonly held view that funding up
to £250k is harder to source in Manchester and there is less
access to early stage venture capital in the region. FinTech
funding in general is viewed as hard to obtain locally, although
it should be noted there have been a number of north west
FinTech firms successfully raise funding via locally based
investors over the last year or so, including Mojo (Maven/
NVM), Nivo (GP Bullhound), and AccessPay (Beringea).
There is an argument that cash is available for investable
FinTechs, and in a global industry location is irrelevant. Others
argue that ‘investable’ looks different dependent on the
investor, making fund-raising a numbers game that benefits
those closest to a higher concentration of high net worth
individuals. AccessPay’s most recent funding round came
from four different sources, only one of which was local.
We found a widely acknowledged need for education
amongst investors and startups looking to fundraise. For
every reluctant investor group, there is a cohort of FinTechs
or tech startups with complicated products attempting
to raise funding. It appears that sometimes this fundraising
may be premature, which can damage confidence for all
involved. During the course of the research, we noted that
GC Business Angels runs events for pre-pitch readiness, with
applicants who request for funding receiving 12 hours of free
support through Access to Finance.
Some of the interviewees believe there is a lack of
understanding amongst the traditional portfolio angels who
would rather invest money in businesses with a tangible
product and standard route to profitability. SaaS products,
and particularly B2B FinTech products, can often be a
harder sell to a set of investors who would rather bet on what
they know, and are not comfortable with the need for pre-
revenue injections of cash.
There is a view that the difficulty of raising is a good thing
– that the more pitching and challenge an entrepreneur
engages in, the better their business becomes. However,
there is an argument that investors already active in the
space need to contribute with thought leadership to help
demonstrate what an informed and successful investment
choice looks like. Similarly, successful tech entrepreneurs in
the region can consider becoming angels and investing
back into the community, as well as providing mentoring
and guidance to early stage entrepreneurs.
Manchester has a significant cluster
of private equity firms and is
the highest ranking northern
city for investment activity
There is a shortage of early stage
funding for FinTech startups and this
is partly as a result of a reluctance
of investors to provide funding into
sectors they are not familiar with
Funding for FinTech
There is an opportunity to
better align investors and
entrepreneurs
9 KPMG Q4 2019 global and UK venture funding analysis
(published January 2020) .
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Stakeholder quotes
“If I am a FinTech looking for funding, it’s still fairly
difficult, you have to know the right people. FinTech
North helps, but we need anything to get the wheels
turning on angel investment. We need a stable
government and British business-backed funder that
matches private funding. When you’re at that early
stage, you can be relying on relationships rather than
institutional investment. The type of people / investors
you can pick up the phone to in Silicon Valley, you
need to be able to go locally to in Manchester.”
Luke Stubbs, Partner, DLA Piper
“Historically there has been a lack of early stage
funding available with some of our most exciting
Fintech companies looking to London and overseas
for earlier investment rounds. However, this has
improved significantly in recent years as Manchester
becomes recognised as one of the most exciting hubs
for growing tech businesses in the UK.”
Nick Wyatt, Director, RSM
“If you’re starting a FinTech and not in the eco-system,
you’re not going to understand how VCs work and
you’re not going to position yourself to suit their
business model. If you’ve got a good product with a
good team, it won’t go anywhere unless you’ve got a
direct customer with a problem.”
Tim Dempsey, CEO, Epiphany Capital
“We need to encourage successful tech
entrepreneurs who’ve exited businesses to become
angel investors and put money and time back into the
ecosystem.”
Mo Aldalou, Entrepreneur Engagement Manager, Tech Nation
“The earlier in the funding journey, the more it’s
based on relationships with individuals. One meeting
in London, from an Investor perspective, is one
single data point on that company. They have to
believe that the people sat in front of them have the
credibility and the skillset; it’s hard for a young growing
company to try and form a relationship with someone
who is two hours away by train.”
Rupert Wingate-Saul, Investment Director, FWS Advisory
“There is a silent reliance, in the early stages, on friends
and family for that initial injection of cash. Not many
people have that. Investors want a certain style of
pitch deck. Unless you hit those talking points, it’s really
hard to get through the front door. I see entrepreneurs
with great ideas, but their pitch deck is written wrong.”
Aine McTiernan, Programme Lead, PwC Scale
“At this moment in time we deploy about two thirds
of our funds in the north and we see that trend
continuing as we are working with many great
businesses in the area.”
Damian McGann, Corporate Development Director, Praetura
“There is access to capital – if you’ve got a good
business and you’re showing positive economics and
growth, you’re going to get investment.”
Richard Hayes, CEO and Co-Founder, Mojo
“It feels like the marketing is around the fundraise
rather than the product. Looking at how many
FinTechs succeed, investors are right to be wary.
There’s plenty of private equity, it’s part of the reality.
You need to graft for that.”
Anthony Morrow, CEO, OpenMoney
“We are proud of the close relationships we
developed with our Manchester based investors. We
also got introduced to a broker in London through
whom we quickly held five investor meetings in a day.
There is obviously a concentration of wealth in London
and Manchester businesses are able to access that if
they have the right help.”
Mat Elliott, Co-Founder, Nivo
“A VC approached me after doing Prolific North.
They’re based in London, but they are external facing;
London based investors may not be willing to re-
locate, but they are looking here.”
Sam Patchitt, CEO, Finstant
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There are numerous modern collaborative
workspaces in Manchester and there is no
shortage of co-working spaces in the city centre,
ranging from hotdesking to fully supported office
provision. OpenMoney, a FinTech firm, occupies
50+ desks at one of the WeWork locations.
Many of the research interviews included a discussion
about the potential for a Level39 style hub with a
focus on investment readiness, regulator access, and
networking. However, such a hub is considered by
most to be a nice to have, with an acknowledgment
that the level of demand may not currently make it
viable.
Barclays Rise, the bank’s FinTech workspace brand,
previously had a space in central Manchester and
Allied London initially intended part of its XYZ building,
The Vault, to be FinTech specific. Both spaces were
popular, but neither housed a significant proportion of
FinTech firms amongst their residents.
Today, Barclays Eagle Labs provides a tech-focused
coworking space and is a popular venue for events.
There are now 26 Eagle Labs in UK, eight of which
are in the north. Virgin Money’s popular store on
Market Street (previously known as B works) offers
entrepreneurs free workspace in the centre of the city.
NatWest operates a specialist FinTech accelerator
programme, and its Manchester Entrepreneurial Hub is
one of only four FinTech hubs it operates across the UK
(the others are in London, Bristol and Edinburgh). Since
the accelerators launched in 2018, over 180 FinTechs
have been supported across the UK.
Looking beyond the financial sector, the Oxford Road
Corridor specialises in Life Science and Materials and
is home to Manchester’s first tech incubator, based
out of the Manchester Technology centre, as well
as CityLabs. What is currently UoM’s North Campus
(previously UMIST), is to be re-developed into an
Innovation District.
Allied London’s Enterprise City development is being
positioned as a destination for tech businesses in
the North. In April 2020, one of the buildings within
Enterprise City - Bonded Warehouse (already home to
payments firms Auden, Adyen and Klarna) - will launch
Exchange, backed by Manchester City Council with
support from Tech Nation. Exchange will grant 200
memberships to startups with the opportunity to work
from Bonded for free.
Manchester is home to a growing
number of coworking and
collaborative workspaces,
including structured
accelerators
There is a dedicated FinTech
accelerator in the city, within
NatWest’s Entrepreneurial Hub
Physical space / hubs
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The impact of incubators and accelerators
The value to startups of attending incubator and accelerator programmes is now better
understood and recognised (across multiple tech sectors not just FinTech), but the
challenges of operating FinTech programmes outside of London remain.
A BEIS survey10 of 428 startups that have participated in an incubator or accelerator found
that most considered the programme to have been significant or vital to their success.
The startups perceived direct funding to be the most useful support they received as part
of the programme. This was followed by access to office space, lab space and technical
equipment.
The report also found the launch of an accelerator is associated with a significant
increase in the number and value of investments made by VCs into non-accelerated
seed and high-tech companies, relative to non-accelerated seed but non-high-tech
firms. More than half of UK accelerators are based in London. The scarcity of specialist
FinTech incubators and accelerators outside London is more acute and 85% of the
accelerators attended by UK FinTech firms are in London.
The challenges of operating a FinTech accelerator outside of London are primarily linked
to the supply of relevant firms. BEIS found that the average size of an accelerator cohort
was 16 businesses and the average length of a programme was just over 6 months.
Incubator programmes run for longer, usually two years. Given the relatively small number
of early stage FinTech companies across the regional cities, it is understandable that most
of the FinTech accelerators are based in London. Whether a ‘build it and they will come’
approach to creating a regional FinTech accelerator would be successful is a source of
regular debate in all the cities we have researched.
Photo credit: Russell Hart / Alamy Stock Photo
10The Impact of Business Accelerators and Incubators in the UK, BEIS Research Paper Number 2019/009
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•
FinTech in the UK, City of Lon-
don Corporation 2018
Stakeholder quotes
“There’s no one central place, FinTech companies
are spread everywhere. This is fine, but it means it’s
not as visible, unlike sectors like Healthtech based at
City Labs, with City Labs 2 on the way, on the Oxford
Road Corridor. We’ll start to see more big players sat
alongside smaller companies – for example KPMG sat
on the tech incubator on Oxford Road, and Bruntwood
Neo Building.”
Ilona Alcock, Sector Group Manager, pro-manchester
“We could do with better spaces with short tenancies.
There’s little benefit in cross fertilisation for startups, it’s
just distraction. But it is less lonely for entrepreneurs.”
Tim Dempsey, CEO, Epiphany Capital
“What could a Fintech hub look like? Well - what
specifically do Fintechs need? Access to the
corporate customer, access to regulatory expertise
& understanding and access to smart money &
talent, both executive and non-executive. By centring
things around a Fintech hub, the region could attract
all of these with the benefit of critical mass and
national profile.” Nick Edgar, Senior Director, Virgin Money
“The Landing at Media City is a really good model,
there needs to be more of those. The aim is that places
like Manchester Tech Centre on Oxford Road next to
Circle Square will become a key hub for FinTechs.”
Rachel Eyre, Business Development Manager, FS, MIDAS
“I don’t think the north west needs a fintech-only
communal workspace. Across the city there is already
an array of technology hubs and co-working spaces
that provide a great environment for start-ups and
SMEs across all sub-sectors of technology
to collaborate.” Nick Wyatt, Director, RSM
“A FinTech space would be a very nice to have –
a real luxury, but there’s no desperate need.”
Anthony Morrow, CEO, OpenMoney
“If someone were to create a specific hub for FinTechs
it would have to be really special to make it overly
attractive from what they’ve got at the moment. A
FinTech specific hub could work well but would need
to be based on rigorous selection and support.”
Damian Mcgann, Corporate Development Director, Praetura
“Accelerators need to achieve a certain quality of
cohort to become sustainable. We’ve had five or six
come and go, either they were the wrong model,
or we need to do something differently. Perhaps it’s
about roll on roll off innovation – helping companies as
and when they come up.”
Katie Gallagher, Managing Director, Manchester Digital
“You get out what you put in to the Natwest
Accelerator. If you don’t ask for anything, it’s not much
more than a co-working space. Because i've got a
product with overlaps in the bank, I can talk to people
in the bank quite easily. The workshops are too broad
for me. But they’re good if you’ve never started a
business before; easy to access and the most visible of
all the support networks in Manchester.”
Sam Patchitt, CEO, Finstant
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The region is well connected and demonstrates a
strong amount of interaction and communication
relative to other locations we have researched.
Many interviewees commented on how the
key players are in frequent contact with one
another, with MIDAS and the universities regularly
mentioned by the businesses operating in and
around the FinTech sector.
In contrast to other regions, there are a number
of organisations in the region who are active in
organising FinTech-related events: pro-manchester
has an increasingly active programme of Manchester-
focused FinTech events, tech media firm Business Cloud
has hosted several FinTech events; FinTech North has
a focus across the wider northern region and runs
breakfast seminars and an annual conference; whilst
MIDAS has hosted events for national and international
FinTech firms visiting Manchester.
The city has also welcomed major international FinTech
missions involving FinTechs from across Europe. These
missions were brought to the region by the Department
for International Trade as part of a wider Northern
Powerhouse programme which has now included four
missions overall.
The effectiveness of events for generating contacts
and meaningful relationships was a topic discussed
with interviewees. People make a time investment
judgement on events, and many felt there is a need
for more results-focused, outcome-driven events, with
clear objectives stated upfront.
Suggestions included a move away from broad
discussion events and towards a tighter focus;
answers to specific business problems, access to
specific investors, booked slots with targeted
connections, and interaction with the regulator.
In October 2019, pro-manchester launched a new
Manchester FinTech Committee in partnership with
MIDAS. While the committee is in its earliest stages,
it has the opportunity to bring together a disparate
but well populated FinTech community and deliver
services that are truly valuable: access to investors,
decision makers and the regulator; advice on when
to raise, how best to raise and who to target. Last year,
Manchester Digital ran a number of round tables for
FinTechs to identify where there was need for support.
Interaction and communication between key players
There is an established and growing
FinTech community within Greater
Manchester, with networking events and
seminars acting as a focal point
Many of the key players are well known to
each other, which helps with connectivity
and introductions within the region
A Manchester FinTech Committee has
been set up by pro-manchester and
MIDAS, with representatives from across
the ecosystem
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FinTech North
FinTech North is an event-based initiative which aims to help
build the FinTech community across the Northern Powerhouse.
It sets out to achieve this via an inclusive and collaborative
approach, regularly partnering with other organisations.
Established in 2016, FinTech North is unique due not only to
its regional focus but also the fact that it is not aligned to a
particular city and operates across the north having hosted
conferences and seminars in locations including Liverpool,
Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle. The 2019 Manchester
conference attracted in excess of 350 registrations. PR for this
event was handled by Manchester-based Galiber PR, which
supports FinTech North across all its major events in the north.
Over the last four years FinTech North has hosted more than
50 events, attracting over 6000 delegates, speakers, sponsors
and advocates from across the FinTech industry. Speakers
and attendees at FTN events include banks, building societies,
insurers, and other financial institutions, technology providers,
policy makers, advisers and suppliers to the FS and tech sectors,
FinTech entrepreneurs, academics, funders, and investors.
Events to date have catered for a broad spectrum of UK and
international speakers and attendees ranging from those with
an early interest in FinTech through to sector specialists whose
sole focus is FinTech. FinTech North has actively supported a
number of national and international initiatives working with
organisations including Innovate Finance, FCA, Tech Nation,
DIT and Nesta. The organisation is chaired by Chris Sier, FinTech
Envoy to the Northern Powerhouse and a strong supporter of
regional FinTech.
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Press and social media
Throughout our research, we appraised the press
and social media mentions relating to FinTech in
Greater Manchester to measure the relevance of
comparable FinTech themes to assess the region’s
focus. We used data from Meltwater to conduct this
analysis.
Press coverage
Since 2017, there have been over 3,200 press articles
mentioning FinTech in association with Greater Manchester,
equivalent to 3.7% of the articles associated with the UK as a
whole, nearly 40% more than any other regions we analysed.
In terms of topics covered in relation to FinTech in the media,
Greater Manchester broadly follows the overall UK trends.
The two exceptions were that talent was more commonly
mentioned, and financial services received a lower
proportion of mentions than the UK average.
Although just 3%, Greater Manchester had the largest
proportion of articles relating to universities, possibly
reflective of their involvement in the FinTech sector through
FinTech themed courses.
Social media
Greater Manchester had the largest quantity of FinTech
related articles, and second largest quantity of FinTech
related social media11 posts.
We have observed a direct correlation between FinTech
events and social media mentions, with peaks in mentions
coinciding with the dates of the events. Whilst social media
mentions are not a measure of economic success, it is
helpful to understand what drives them.
• 5+12+18+3+6+32+24
Topics covered as a proportion of FinTech news
articles in the Greater Manchester region
Topics covered as a proportion of FinTech news
articles in the United Kingdom 2017-2019
• 4+6+15+2+6+28+39
Talent Funding Universities Startup/scaleup
Tech Financial Services Hubs
Talent Funding Universities Startup/scaleup
Tech Financial Services Hubs
11 Figures available via Meltwater include Twitter and Facebook, but not LinkedIn.
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Stakeholder quotes
“We encourage our people to get involved in their
local community in all our regions. We are trying to
be more visible and accessible. Being more visible
and accessible is an important part of establishing a
presence in the communities in which we operate.
We’ve set aside budget to support these initiatives
and this is already bearing fruit.”
Stuart Bullock, Managing Director, BJSS
“SMEs could provide a £23bn boost to the North of
England’s economy if the environment is created
to boost productivity levels to the national average
(IPPR North: 2019). At the heart of this is creating an
ecosystem that encourages both more start-ups
but crucially facilitates the ability for more of these
businesses to scale and grow.”
Nick Edgar, Senior Director, Virgin Money UK
“We’re working hard to make sure what we do works
for startups and scaleups. We don’t do enough. We
don’t want to scare people as the big scary lawyer,
we are here to help and are not really expensive. If
we can help people make connections we will, and
we’ve got some great links we can help connect
people up to. We’re definitely keen to help as many
as we can in the sector.”
Luke Stubbs, Partner, DLA Piper
“It’s good to have lots going on. I hope that
groups with different ambitions and objectives can
complement each other.”
Rachel Eyre, Business Development Manager, FS, MIDAS
“2 years ago, I moved to Manchester to grow
the brand in the north. The ecosystem is still a little
immature in the North West making it difficult to tap
into and use connections to grow - but it is starting to
change and we are forging some great partnerships.”
Colin Neil, SVP Business Development, Adyen
“I literally do an ROI on events. I’ve been at events
where no one captures that action and executes it or
makes it happen. Points of view and ideas are great,
but then it becomes a so what – what’s next?”
Amy Whitell, CEO and Co-Founder, Collctiv
“We ran our first FinTech forum in September 2019 to
find out what FinTechs wanted from us through to
2021. We focused on banking regulation, talent and
skills. We’re currently lobbying the FCA in the hope of
trying to make them easier to work with. Support could
and can come from Manchester Digital. It needs to
be industry access to build that network of people
who have been there and done it.”
Katie Gallagher, Managing Director, Manchester Digital
“For one of our early anchor deals – the first
conversation was with someone I met at a FinTech
North event. We exchanged cards in the lift and that
led to a partnership which is still creating value today,
and which led to further introductions into our current
client base, all of which I can trace back.”
Mat Elliott, Co-Founder, Nivo
“80% of FinTech insurance products are not fit for
purpose, because the broker doesn’t understand the
business, and the FinTechs don’t know what they’re
looking for. We need a way to communicate this
to them.”
Mark Robinson, Client Director, Verlingue UK
“The new FinTech Committee should try and replicate
something like FinTech Connect, a FinTech event for
all of the UK.”
Lee Stretton, Managing Director, Raisin UK
“Communication between key players is strong.
We’ve had GMCA, Praetura and University support.
We’ve had a positive experience being put in
touch with people, it’s been easy for doors to open,
everyone has been supportive. Half our founding
team were from Yorkshire and half were from the
North West. Manchester is a bigger economy and
more commercially minded.”
Dave Broadbent, CFO and Founder, B-North
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Greater Manchester is home to five major universities
with over 100,000 students, over 40,000 of whom are
international, producing more than 36,000 graduates
per year including 15,565 in STEM subjects12.
There are numerous examples of collaboration between
universities and businesses. The University of Manchester is
already collaborating with a number of FinTechs, including
AccessPay and Together Money. Manchester Met worked
with TLT to deliver a two-day FinTech course for key staff.
A number of Manchester FinTechs have worked with UoM
MBA and MSc candidates on consultancy projects, paying
them expenses – often leading to employment post-
graduation.
In the past, the difference in scale between the universities
and FinTech startups and has made collaboration difficult;
the universities can take months to make research-related
decisions, looking for years-long research projects, while
FinTech needs are often on a much shorter time scale. There
is also a tension between a FinTech's need for tech skills at a
cheap price and the universities’ reluctance to become a
source of free labour.
Manchester Met has a FinTech masters course intended to
bridge the gap between vanilla ‘developers’ and financially
literate product leads. The FinTech course cohort has grown
50% year on year, from 11 to 17. The university has constantly
sought to engage with the FinTech community, including
hosting events run by FinTech North and pro-manchester,
and actively engaging with locally based organisations.
Salford University’s FinTech masters is a new programme
which will be launched in September 2020. The curriculum
was developed with Propel Finance (formerly Henry Howard
Finance) and SkyParlour (FinTech PR and Strategy). The
course intends to address the knowledge gap created
by the pace of technological transformation, designed to
meet the latest employment needs in the FinTech industry.
Over recent months the university has been increasingly
visible in the region, attending numerous FinTech events.
At the end of 2019, The University of Manchester received
a £2.5million donation to boost the region’s capacity
and capability in FinTech. The donation was made by
Greensill, a leading British FinTech company founded
by Lex Greensill, who is also an Alliance Manchester
Business School MBA alumnus. The funding will enable the
collaboration of academics from across the University to
promote multidisciplinary research and support student
entrepreneurship in FinTech and related fields and has also
enabled the University to progress its FinTech agenda with a
new Chair in FinTech, as well as other key academic posts
and PhD scholarships over the next five years.
The new Chair, Markos Zachariadis, will be the first
academic lead for FinTech. The university currently has a
business liaison officer for FinTech, responsible for facilitating
collaboration between FinTechs and university research
expertise.
Each of Manchester’s three biggest
Universities either has FinTech
courses or an employee
responsible for facilitating
collaboration between
FinTech businesses
and University research
The University of Manchester has
received a £2.5million donation
from Greensill to boost the region’s
capacity and capability in FinTech
The role of universities
12 STEM Graduates (HESA (2018-19).
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Stakeholder quotes
“We need businesses to tell us where the gaps are and
we can help address this through research and new
teaching, both done in collaboration with practitioners.
A key question to be addressed is how research is
funded, often the research councils that provide the bulk
of research funding do not have calls open to financial
companies as it’s considered a wealthy sector that
could fund its own R&D, there needs to be willingness
from businesses & investors to commit resource to
R&D which should include university collaborations.
Resource commitment for research collaborations isn’t
just about cash to fud research tie though, access to
data & knowledge are most important, in order for useful
research partnerships to thrive.”
Rachel Kenyon, The University of Manchester

“We are very much industry relevant, we are
developing nascent partnerships with a mix of
established firms and startups. It takes time, but we are
also exploring Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with a
few players in the FinTech space.”
Niels Pedersen, Manchester Metropolitan University
“I think it’s working really well. The University of
Manchester have a dedicated person on business in
FinTechs collaboration, they’ve got global reach with
FinTechs, making it as straight forward as possible for
companies to engage. They have innovation labs working
to see how they can support FinTechs in the region.”
Rachel Eyre, Business Development Manager, FS, MIDAS
“I’ve seen some good stuff, Together have been doing
loads of work with the universities and their own data
science team. I’ve been approached by the university -
there is access there.”
Richard Hayes, Co-Founder & CEO, Mojo Mortgages
“It’s about managing expectation. We’re not looking
at the university for a quick fix, it’s part of a long-term
view for us. If you’re a 4- or 5-man band, is that the right
place for you to be going?”
Anthony Morrow, CEO, OpenMoney
“The key is finding the right company for the right
partnership. You have to have a meeting of two,
or more, minds. The FinTech has to have an issue to
research or a problem to solve; you have to match that
up with the right academic.”
Niels Pedersen, Manchester Metropolitan University
“Academic research is thorough and therefore can
be slow compared to the business, especially start-up,
environment; however there is significant value from
rigorous applied research to test new ideas, investigate
challenge areas, or evidence need for policy and new
products. Large organisations are used to working with
academia, they’ve got time to make these decisions,
they don’t have to move at the pace of startups. The
best route for startups might be to partner and then
work with the University, but it is always worth speaking
to universities abut or challenges to see if they have
expertise and collaboration mechanisms available
that could fit.”
Rachel Kenyon, The University of Manchester
Photo credit: Jane Beadnell
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CASE STUDY: Innovation Labs facilitating
academic-led solutions to business challenges
2019 FinTech Lab
Problem Statement:
Despite the successes of the Government’s automatic enrolment initiative, the
level of consumer engagement with long-term savings remains very low. The
majority of consumers have no active participation in their pensions, and the
level of understanding of long-term saving products is poor; leaving many British
people at risk of poverty in later life. Equiniti is a leading provider of pension
solutions to pension schemes and is seeking new ways to engage consumers
of all ages in order to support their customers. What tools, techniques or
approaches might encourage a typical consumer to really take an interest in
their long-term savings to achieve the best possible outcomes for later life?
Project description:
Understanding saving and investing behaviours is complex, especially since
people have different levels of engagement across different products. This
portfolio approach to personal finance has not been fully recognised in industry
or research, which tends to focus on different products as separate silos.
Recent research on pension decision-making has shown the importance of
understanding pension practices in the context of the broader portfolio, as this
can significantly affect the way in which they consider and engage with their
pension. For example, people may choose to engage with multiple products for
long-term saving, either instead of or alongside a pension.
The proposed approach is to understand this by targeting individuals who are
active savers and investors but are less engaged with pensions. Recent research
suggests that a significant minority of people use other financial products for
saving and investing, such as savings accounts, ISAs, share save scheme, yet
are not engaged with pension saving. The University believes that exploring
this inconsistency may help to identify key drivers and barriers to engagement,
permitting the design of interactive tools to alleviate these barriers and promote
engagement. These tools may also be used to benefit individuals who are less
engaged with financial products altogether. In the long-term, there may be
scope to use AI techniques to segment individuals, predict behaviours based
on these drivers and barriers, and deliver interactive interventions to people who
would benefit from them the most.
The University of Manchester has developed
a robust, effective means of engaging with
companies, as a mechanism to co-develop
research projects that address a business need.
The Manchester Innovation Labs comprises a
half day workshop, designed and facilitated by
creative consultancy FutureEverything, where
businesses work in small groups with a team
of multidisciplinary academics to develop a
research project and pitch proposals for seed
corn funding to a panel of experts.
Objectives:
•
‘Hot house’ academic-business
relationships to develop actionable ideas for
collaborative research projects on the day.
•
Encourage the formation of multidisciplinary
academic teams to work with businesses to
address business challenges.

• Generate pitch proposals for University
seed corn funding (with an expectation of
matched funding from the businesses).
• Promote follow on funding opportunities
for projects to support the longer-term
development of the relationship.
How does it work?
• Each lab hosts 3-5 industry partners,
working in teams of 4-6, with cross-discipline
academic groups.
• Groups work through the following dynamic,
creative process: ˃define the problem/
question ˃ Facilitated creative thinking
activity˃ Generate solutions ˃ Feasibility matrix
˃Identify optimal solution ˃Pitch project idea
to expert panel for seed corn funding.
FinTech has been an annual theme in the
Innovation Lab series given the range of
opportunities in this fast-growing sector. The 2019
FinTech Lab brought an interesting problem
from online investment platform Equiniti, which
led to a collaboration led by an academic in
the School of Social Sciences, giving a great
example of how academic expertise can offer
insight in the FinTech space beyond the obvious
disciplines of computer science and finance.
If you are interested in participating or finding out
more about future Innovation Labs contact:
rachel.kenyon@manchester.ac.uk
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Participating organisations
AccessPay
Adyen
Allied London
B-North
BJSS
Bruin Financial
CMS
Code Nation
Collctiv
Department for International Trade (DIT)
DLA Piper
Equiniti
Eversheds-Sutherland
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Finch Insurance
Finstant
FinTech North
FWS
Galibier PR
GC Business Angels
HM Treasury
Infinity Works
Innovate Finance
JustUs
KPMG
Krome Technologies
Manchester Digital
Manchester Metropolitan University
Maven Capital
MIDAS
Mojo Mortgages
NCC Group
Nivo
OpenMoney
Praetura
pro-manchester
PwC
Raisin
RD Vault
Revverbank
RSM
Sky Parlour
Start Up Hub
Tech Nation
Together
The University of Manchester
University of Salford
Virgin Money
Whitecap Consulting
YFM Equity Partners
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Whitecap and FinTech North
Whitecap Consulting
Established in 2012, Whitecap Consulting is a
regional strategy consultancy headquartered in
Leeds, with offices in Manchester, Milton Keynes,
Bristol, Newcastle and Birmingham.
Whitecap typically works with boards, executives and
investors of predominantly mid-sized organisations with
a turnover of c£10m-£300m, helping clients analyse,
develop and implement growth strategies.
The firm works with clients across a range of sectors
including Financial Services, Technology, Outsourcing,
Consumer and Retail, Property, Healthcare, Higher
Education and Professional Services, including Corporate
Finance and PE.
Over recent years, Whitecap has become increasingly
recognised as a specialist in the FinTech market with a
range of public and private sector assignments including
organising FinTech trade missions for The Department
for International Trade into the Northern Powerhouse,
working closely with the inward development agencies.

FinTech North
In 2016, Whitecap co-founded FinTech North as an
event-based entity to help promote the growing
FinTech activity across the North of England.
Today FinTech North provides a focal point for
communication, engagement and collaboration
between numerous regional, national and international
stakeholders.
Operating on a not for profit basis, FinTech North has
become firmly established, hosting regular events in
multiple northern cities including Leeds, Manchester,
Liverpool and Newcastle. These events attract speakers
and attendees across a range of disciplines and
interests including policy making, funding, innovation
hubs, startups and scaleups through to corporate
organisations.
In 2019, FinTech co-founded the FinTech National
Network in collaboration with Innovate Finance and
FinTech Scotland. The Network now also includes FinTech
Wales, FinTech Northern Ireland, and FinTech West, which
Whitecap also helps operate.
www.whitecapconsulting.co.uk
www.fintechnorth.uk
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The information contained in this report is of a general nature in relation to the FinTech sector in the Greater Manchester Region and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Appropriate professional advice should be sought
before taking action relating to the contents of the report. Whitecap Consulting has endeavoured to provide accurate and timely information but cannot guarantee the accuracy of such information at the date of publishing or in future.
© 2020 Whitecap Consulting Limited. All rights reserved.















April 2020
Whitecap Consulting
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