Silicon Valley may be the Shangri-La of technology startups, or perhaps more aptly the El Dorado, but it's not the only place where cool things are happening. London is home to one of Europe's major tech centers (or centres), and it’s especially strong in fintech. In 2017, UK-based fintech companies raised $1.8 billion in venture capital; considering the population differential, that figure compares favorably to the $6.5 billion that fintech companies raised across the entire US. And because Envestnet® | Yodlee® is committed to helping fintech developers everywhere, we hosted the first ever Launchpad London on June 20 – 21, 2018.
We took our own Envestnet | Yodlee Incubator, which is considered one of the top fintech accelerators in the world, and created a two-day mini version, with workshops and speakers teaching some of the most interesting and exciting topics from our broader curriculum. We invited some of the leading fintech startups to London so they could learn, share ideas, and collaborate on new solutions for the UK and European fintech arena.
Our goal was to help them improve and grow their businesses, and explore ways for them to leverage our comprehensive data connections across retail banking, credit and wealth management. Our regular U.S.-based Incubator features three week-long bootcamps, as well as mentorship from industry veterans. But for Launchpad London, we distilled it down to its purest essence.
We taught everything from building a business model to the power of branding, from enhancing customer experience to running a sales and marketing funnel. We also talked about legal and regulatory issues like Open Banking reform and the new PSD2 regulations, as well as how to work with big banks. Launchpad London was free to attend, although attendees were responsible for their own travel costs. We asked only that the applicants have a plan to use consumer or small business financial information in order to qualify.
We targeted seed stage companies, but we accepted companies in both earlier and later stages of their development. We didn't require attendees to commit to using Yodlee’s products, but we are providing 90-day access and discounts on program fees for any attendees who sign a commercial contract. If you're interested in learning some key startup lessons that can accelerate your growth, we plan on holding similar events in the future. Not only was our Launchpad full of useful content, it was also an opportunity to meet other developers and entrepreneurs in the fintech world.
Our Launchpad events always feature a party afterward where attendees can network with bank executives, investors, and other influencers — it's a great way to pitch ideas and build connections with people across the fintech ecosystem. Launchpad London’s party was in the new Sky Garden, on the 36th floor of the Walkie Talkie building, featuring epic views of the city skyline. Envestnet | Yodlee has been in the data aggregation and analytics business for 17 years, and we get excited helping fintech startups use our products to help consumers improve their overall financial health. If you would like to learn more about the Envestnet | Yodlee Incubator, visit our website here. We’ll be opening applications in July for our next cohort, which will begin January 2019. And if you’d like to see us run a Launchpad in your part of the world, email us at incubator@yodlee.com.
