In a niche industry dominated by global giants, Norfolk is emerging as a UK leader in FinTech. BETHANY WALES found out how this rapidly growing sector is leveraging the success of some of the region’s biggest heritage brands.
Even if you don’t realise it, FinTech is likely already a big part of your personal and professional day-to-day life.
If you've ever checked your balance via a banking app, used PayPal, Apple Pay, or paid using contactless, then you are one of the 3.5 billion people engaging with the sector worldwide.
FinTechs—short for financial technology—are companies that rely primarily on technology to conduct fundamental functions provided by financial services, affecting how users store, save, borrow, invest, move, pay, and protect money.
This could be in the areas of banking, insurance, investing – anything that relates to finance.
They make it not only possible but also easy to move money between accounts, people, countries, and organisations.
This type of technology first started appearing in the early 2000s, but since Covid the sector has exploded as people look for more ways to manage their finances remotely.
FinTech’s £11bn contribution to the UK economy represents 8pc of the UK's financial services output, and is estimated to rise to £13.7bn GVA by 2030.
And while two thirds of companies are based in London, a new report by FinTech specialist Whitecap Consulting has highlighted Norfolk's surprising role in the national narrative.
NORFOLK'S NEXT-GEN
The county is home to 24 FinTech firms, which generate an estimated £70m of GVA for the regional economy.
This is predicted to increase to £100m by 2027, creating 600 new jobs in Norfolk and ample opportunity for emerging firms to secure investment.
And although internet technology has only been at play for a couple of decades, the county has been a base for financial industries for more than 200 years, with heritage brands like Aviva and Marsh helping to put Norwich on the map.
This long history of insurance entrepreneurship is helping to create a new generation of tech-forward firms, which are at the forefront of the UK’s InsurTech industry.
Julian Wells, director at Whitecap Consulting and one of the authors of the company’s Norfolk FinTech report, said the county’s strength in this area was above and beyond what they expected.
He said: “We’ve so far analysed 10 different regions of the UK and this is the first time ever that payments hasn’t been the top sub-sector.
“Every time we look at these local ecosystems we find heritage plays an important role in deciding its current strengths.
“Norwich has a rich history in insurance so this has been a big factor in securing its crucial role today.
“It's inspiring a fresh crop of specialist firms.”
BOOTSTRAP OR BUST?
One such firm is Pikl, a Norwich-based scaleup which was founded by a team of former-Aviva employees in 2016, and has since become one of the region’s most exciting FinTech success stories.
The firm, which specialises in holiday home insurance, has grown by around 200pc annually since 2020, increasing its team from 15 people to more than 40 in the past three years.
This month it launched its first global insurance product, with founder and CEO Louise Birritteri predicting 2024 will be “a year of transformational growth”.
But despite the incredible success her business has seen, Ms Birritteri said a lack of internal investors in the region is holding the sector back.
To date, the total investment raised by Norfolk-based FinTech firms is around £49m - a fraction of the £9.75bn invested in the wider UK sector last year.
Ms Birritteri said: “We have had a lot of regionally based angel investors who understood insurance. The ecosystem is really good, it just needs to be bigger.
“I think investors get into the habit of looking at London and even Cambridge for businesses, and there’s some unconscious bias working against Norfolk.
“Lots of people see us as a farming area and assume we won’t have an abundance of financial services.
“We need to promote the fact we have this thriving FinTech scene here, because more investment would attract more entrepreneurs, more businesses, and in turn, create more jobs.”
James Adams, managing partner at Norwich-based business incubator Akcela Ventures agreed, and added: “The local investor community doesn’t have the appetite for tech we see in other regions, that generally leaves two choices; find investment outside of the region or bootstrap.
“FinTech here can only succeed if tech investment succeeds. Norwich could develop a FinTech cluster but we need to have investment circles that signal to top talent you can start, scale and gain traction in this region.
“We need to have more of an appetite for attracting and growing this talent pool and that means early stage liquidity for the best ideas.”
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