A prelude to FinovateEurope 2011

Next Tuesday, FinovateEurope will showcase the best new innovations in banking, payments and financial technology in London. The event, like all Finovate conferences, will mix fast-paced demos (no slides allowed) from handpicked financial technology companies with high-quality networking. It’s a blend that has won rave reviews from thousands of bankers, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, analysts, and press over the last few years.


Glancing through the list of companies that will be presenting, I noticed two things. Firstly, you better have a company name that’s no more than five characters long if you want to make it in the financial technology innovation space: Linxo, eWise, eToro, Figlo, Xero andTagit are just a few of the companies at the show.

Secondly, looking at these companies a bit more closely, it seems that mobile payments, e-invoicing, personal finance management and authentication solutions are still among the hottest things happening today in the financial technology world.

So what can we expect from this event?

Well, in anticipation of Tuesday, let’s have a look at what happened to some of the companies at Finovate Spring in 2010. Worklight, which makes portable mobile apps, partnered with Sage on money management apps. Kabbage, which provides online real-time credit to merchants selling goods online, raised $6.65 million earlier this year. Mint, the personal finance website, expanded into Canada.

Blippy, a site that lets you ‘tweet’ about and share purchases with friends, had its credit card details exposed – ouch. Wikinvest’s founder was jailed in London – no, sorry that’s another wiki something I’m thinking off …

All in all it looks pretty promising and I hope to see a lot of bankers at the event because it’s no secret, we’re in dire need of some good innovation to spruce up our balance sheets.

Oh yes, if you’re interested in attending the event and don’t have a ticket yet, tough luck, you’ll have to wait till next year because it’s completely sold out. Then again, you can read my blog next week and find out who the big innovators in finance are.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *