IA announces second Velocity cohort as collaboration with FinTechs grows

Wednesday 8 May 2019

The Investment Association (IA) has today revealed the second cohort of FinTech firms which will be joining Velocity, the IA’s innovation hub and FinTech accelerator for the buy-side and asset management industry.

Following a rigorous selection process, five leading FinTech firms have been selected due to their innovative solutions, which aim to increase business efficiency and enhance customer experience across an asset manager's operations:

• AxeTrading is a specialist Fixed Income EMS delivering technology toolkits for trading connectivity, bonds pricing engine and multi-layer data aggregation: purpose-built for Fixed Income markets automation and generating trading alpha.
• BlueFireAI cost-effectively unlocks Chinese capital markets to foreign institutional investors by delivering a deeper understanding of Chinese onshore companies and their assets.
• CUBE is an enterprise-scale platform that delivers regulatory intelligence and regulatory change management.
• HUBX is a white-label solution for private markets advisors helping them to track, distribute, and execute their private deals.
• Qwill Messenger is a single persistent chat app for everyone, allowing clients of multiple firms to safely engage with their staff representatives within a branded space, fully controlled and coordinated by each firm.

The second cohort was announced at the IA’s inaugural EmTech Futures event, which brought together 150 senior executives from the asset management industry and FinTech innovators to discuss the trends and technological advances impacting the industry, including big data and AI, which are benefiting the asset management operations.

The event also included a keynote speech from Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Science and Innovation, and a demo session with the first cohort of Velocity FinTech firms: 9Fin, Essentia Analytics, Hivemind, ResonanceX, and Util.

Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association, said:

“Competition to join the IA’s accelerator programme continues to grow, with 50 talented FinTech firms vying to take part.

“Congratulations to AxeTrading, BlueFireAI, CUBE, HUBX, and Qwill Messenger who have succeeded in securing their place in the second Velocity cohort.

“Velocity has acted as a catalyst in bringing together the asset management industry and the most cutting-edge FinTech firms, in the search for new and innovative solutions. Our innovation hub is now among one of the largest buy-side communities of FinTech firms in Europe.”

Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Science and Innovation said:

“FinTech has the potential to transform financial services, making them more available, accessible and effective. The UK is a world leader in FinTech and I want to see that leadership maintained to drive our future prosperity.

“Accelerators, such as Velocity, have an important role to play in nurturing new talent and helping FinTechs scale up. I would therefore like to congratulate the second cohort of FinTech firms entering the IA’s Velocity programme and look forward to seeing these firms’ products and ideas benefit savers and investors.”

Since the launch of Velocity last year, the IA has rapidly expanded its collaboration with the FinTech sector, and currently has over 100 FinTech firms in the Velocity ecosystem. As part of this growth, in March the IA signed a partnership between European FinTech platform B-Hive and Velocity.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

• During the six month accelerator programme, which will conclude in winter 2019, the latest cohort of firms will benefit from unparalleled access to the IA and its industry expertise, as well as gaining valuable exposure to industry networks and potential clients. Participants will also benefit from access to a bespoke co-working space and mentoring from the expert Velocity Advisory Panel, which will help firms to unlock their potential and implement solutions throughout the sector.
• Applications for the third cohort will open in Q3 2019.

For further information, please contact:

Helen Ayres, Media Relations Manager: [email protected]
T +44 (0)20 7269 4620; M +44 (0)7508 724 066
David Parton, Communications Executive: [email protected]
T +44 (0)20 7831 0898

About the Investment Association:

• The IA champions UK asset management, supporting British savers, investors and businesses. Our 250 members manage £7.7 trillion of assets and the asset management industry supports 100,000 jobs across the UK.
• Our mission is to make investment better. Better for clients, so they achieve their financial goals. Better for companies, so they get the capital they need to grow. And better forthe economy, so everyone prospers.Our purpose is to ensure investment managers are in the best possible position to:
  • Build people’s resilience to financial adversity
  • Help people achieve their financial aspirations
  • Enable people to maintain a decent standard of living as they grow older
  • Contribute to economic growth through the efficient allocation of capital.
• The money our members manage is in a wide variety of investment vehicles including authorised investment funds, pension funds and stocks and shares ISAs
• The UK is the second largest investment management centre in the world, after the US and manages 35% of all assets managed in Europe.