Open Up 2018

Akoni aim to fundamentally change the way businesses bank. We use the multiple sources of business data and the power of innovation to deliver personalised prompts and products to SMEs. We are born out of the frustrations experienced by our CEO, Felicia Meyerowitz Singh, when she was an SME director managing cash. Akoni believe SMEs should receive the same services, tools and financial products as larger corporates.

Bokio is a proactive assistant for SME companies which automatically takes care of day-to-day administration, invoicing, accounting VAT etc, and helps companies to form better decisions for the future, free of charge. Gone are the days when companies spend lots of time and money on confirming what happened in the past and instead it is now time to look to the future and work proactively to improve the financials of the company. Open banking will finally enable banking, administration and accounting to sit in one place with an automatic and seamless process to constantly stay up to date on the financials of a company. This will enable more accurate prognoses and deeper understanding of the customer need to be able to offer increasingly more relevant services to each individual company.

Bud is the financial network that intelligently connects banks, fintechs and customers together. Our tech makes it easy for banks to collaborate with other service providers to create amazing new experiences for both their existing and new customers.

Businesses who work with an adviser are 4x more likely to receive funding than those without a trusted adviser. “Adviser-led Capital” helps accountants build a strong advisory service-line in their practice through technology and training. As of April 2018, over 1,000 accountants use Capitalise.com to help UK business builders avoid the trap of being left with limited, last minute financial solutions – if any at all. Instead the platform encourages a change of behaviour, by moving to a more considered selection of products, exploring a network of over 100 institutional lenders to find their most appropriate match.

Coconut is a current account for freelancers and self-employed people that keeps track of your expenses and how much tax you owe. We help you manage your cashflow with confidence by automating your accounting. With open banking we’ll get a complete picture of your finances, so you save as much money on your tax bill as possible and get access to financial products that are right for you and your business.

Credit Data Research is the market leader in credit behavioural analysis, it is active in 5 European countries bringing new scoring solutions for the SMEs and consumer segments. The company is innovating the credit scoring space through its Basel compliant Credit Passport® platform, leveraging credit behavioural data through Open Banking, increasing transparency and competition. Credit Passport® accelerates the capital flowing in the SME and consumer segments, facilitating transparency between small businesses, consumers and potential lenders.

Finpoint is the UK’s trusted business funding platform. We redefine business funding by combining hundreds of finance options with impartial advice in a free online service.

Fluidly is an Intelligent Cashflow engine – our technology plugs into accounting packages and bank accounts and uses machine learning to predict and optimise business finances. We help SMEs to sleep better at night by providing tools to intelligently manage cashflow.

Funding Circle is a global small business loans platform, matching small businesses who want to borrow with investors who want to lend in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands. Since launching in 2010, investors across Funding Circle’s geographies – including more than 70,000 retail investors, banks, asset management companies, insurance companies, government-backed entities and funds – have lent over £4.5 billion to more than 45,000 businesses globally.

Funding Options is Europe’s leading online marketplace for business finance, each year raising £100m+ in vital finance, for thousands of UK SMEs, from 50+ active lenders. With globally award-winning financial technology (fintech), Funding Options brings consumer-like ease and speed to comparing business loans, and has funded firms in less than an hour. With partners including leading banks and comparison sites, Funding Options is also designated by HM Treasury for the mandatory bank referral scheme.

OpenWrks is building a free, personalised SME bank account and overdraft comparison tool. For the first time SMEs will be able to get an accurate, independent and real-time comparison of the true cost of business bank accounts so they can find the right product for them.

Swoop is a one stop money-shop for businesses. We simplify and speed-up access to business loans, grants and equity finance. Swoop has built a simple to use technology platform that enables businesses to apply for multiple sources of funding through one application. Swoop analyses every opportunity on the market across lenders, investors and grant providers to find the best finance for your business in seconds. Once we find you the right options, our experts will manage your application from beginning to end so that you can focus on building your business.

Despite the UK-led fintech boom, banking hasn’t changed all that much for most UK small businesses since 1970. Most core business banking services in the UK — current accounts, loans, and other financial services — are still provided by just a handful of large banking groups. 80% of UK small businesses hold a current account with one of five major banks.

Open banking is a technology infrastructure that enables services provided by different parties to work together to deliver better banking services for customers. In the UK, it will mean rules agreed across the major banks that define how a third party can access and use a customer’s banking data, or access that customer’s account to initiate payments.

Open banking removes huge barriers for third parties looking to engage with and provide services to a bank’s existing customers. It will also enable small businesses to compare banking services from different providers based on their own characteristics. Teams received extensive user-experience support helping them integrate user-centred thinking into their infrastructure, so innovations worked for SMEs from the outset.