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Next generation of financial technology pioneers in Scotland

Posted: 3rd October 2018

The Times together with Royal Bank of Scotland, FWB Park Brown and Dell Technologies have partnered to launch a competition to identify and support the next generation of financial technology pioneers in Scotland.

With a prize fund totalling £125,000 on offer, the project aims to encourage and reward world-class ideas in financial technology innovation. The fund will be shared between winners and runners-up in two categories.

The “Blue Sky” Fintech Award is aimed at early-stage financial technology businesses or individuals with new ideas. Open to pre-revenue companies trading for less than a year, entries will be judged on originality and innovation and on their potential market impact.

The winner of this category will receive a prize of £10,000, with £5,000 for the runner up. The third placed entry will feature in a special article on the competition in The Times and will be offered a place in the Royal Bank Accelerator programme .

The “PowerUp” Fintech Award is for financial technology companies that have been trading for less than three years. Applicants should be at minimum viable product (MVP) stage onwards and judging will be based on originality and innovation as well as on validation and traction.

The winner of this category will receive a prize of £80,000, with £20,000 for the runner up and £10,000 for the third placed entry. All six finalists will feature in the Times article and will have a place on the Accelerator programme.

To enter, visit the competition website (www.timesfintechcompetition.scot ) where you will be asked to complete a short application form, providing your personal details and information about your company, including its registration and start dates.

 

You will also be asked to provide a 150-word summary of what you or your business does and to upload a three-minute video pitch.  Your video will be required to explain:

-What you or your business does.

-How you do it.

-Who your customers are.

-What traction or validation you have gained so far.

-Why you believe you and your team can deliver on its goals.

-What you think makes you different from the competition.

 

Please keep your pitch to three minutes or less – judges will stop watching after 180 seconds and any material included after this deadline will not be considered.

Entries will be judged by a panel of experts chaired by Louise Smith, Head of Digitisation, Personal and Business Banking at the Royal Bank of Scotland with representatives from The Times Scotland, FWB Park Brown, Dell and Fintech Scotland. After selecting three finalists from each category and doing due diligence on each, a final line-up will be announced.

Finalists will be asked to attend a dragons’ den-style pitching event at the Royal Bank’s headquarters at Gogarburn, Midlothian on Monday, October 29th. To be eligible to enter, candidates must commit to being available to attend the pitching event which starts at 5pm.

Finalists will be asked to deliver a live, three-minute pitch of their idea or business to a panel of judges chaired by Louise Smith, Head of Simplification & Digitisation at Royal Bank and including Gordon Merrylees, Head of Entrepreneurship at the Royal Bank, Greig Cameron, Business Editor at The Times Scotland, Adam Brown of FWB Park Brown, Steven Ingledew of Fintech Scotland, Craig Reid of Dell Technologies and Kate Richardson-Walsh OBE, the Olympic gold medal winning former captain of the Great Britain women’s hockey team.

Judges will make their decision on the night and the winners will be announced.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/static/fintech-competition-win-scottish-financial-technology-innovators/ 

Business Comment

Business Comment is the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce’s bi-monthly magazine. It provides insight on Edinburgh’s vibrant business community, with features on the city’s key sectors, interviews with leading figures and news on new business developments in the capital.
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