You’ve probably heard of Algomi, a highly-successful Fintech company providing software for fixed-income market data. Algomi’s most recognised product, Honeycomb, offers buyers information on the distribution capabilities of banks on the Algomi network, without revealing the clients’ intention to the banks.

However, you may not have heard of Synchronicity, another Algomi innovation developed for banks. Synchronicity is a Java based platform, which enables banks to recognise the best trade opportunities and promote effective collaboration between all parties involved. Essentially an extension of Honeycomb, Synchronicity is not a trading platform, therefore banks can use their trading system of choice to connect to the Honeycomb interface and help provide liquidity in the bond market.

Why is Synchronicity important?

Over the years, banks have struggled with managing large amounts of sensitive information on investments. This is partly due to the lack of recent technological advances, but also because of the inability to fit the right people with the right trade opportunities.

This is expected since working in bond sales requires going through an overwhelming amount of data on a daily basis. These data have to be classified, analysed and constantly updated and this cannot be done efficiently without the use of technology. Monitoring and prioritising this amount of data in order to unravel opportunities is almost impossible, and as expected information is lost in the process.

This is not the case anymore. Synchronicity, helps bring every relevant data touch point into one place, creating a virtual balance sheet. This innovative Algomi investment technology can combine thousands of abstract points produced within the sales and trading functions of a bank and then match and identify the people who are associated with this data in real time. In this way, the right data are linked with the relevant people and presented in context.

Information handled by Synchronicity includes reference data, sales coverage, client portfolios, trades, RFQ, axe feeds, live prices, as well as voice and electronic inquiries data, which make up the millions of data points currently missed, lost or ignored. Synchronicity gathers this data in one place allowing for thorough examination and analysis for banks and investors.

Algomi, recently announced their  collaboration with IPC systems, a highly reputed financial markets technology and service provider. Together they are developing DealCall, which will be incorporated in their Honeycomb network.

As part of their Honeycomb network, DealCall will use IPC’s Financial Markets Cloud to enable unified voice communication for the buy-side clients of this Algomi investment innovation. By doing this, they expect to bring voice trading right into the 21^st century.

Algomi: our story

Algomi is a Fintech company that develops and provides software solutions for fixed-income market data. Through our award-winning data tool, Honeycomb, we links the buyers and sellers in a collaborative network.

Honeycomb, as well as Synchronicity, our newest innovation for the sell-side, have facilitated more effective bond trading immensely by providing accurate information to prospective buyers and sellers. Nonetheless, a recent study by consultancy Greenwich Associates, found that investment in technology for buy-side trading desks fell from 36% in 2014 to 31% in 2015. This means that although voice trading is essential, especially for big deals, old-fashioned phone broking isn’t as effective anymore.

Nowadays, buyers and sellers prefer sourcing liquidity and intelligence elsewhere – especially over online networks such as Honeycomb. This is why they partnered with IPC, to create DealCall for more efficient voice broking.

DealCall

DealCall technology will be developed by IPC, but will be incorporated into Honeycomb. Essentially, with one click, buyers will be able to connect to their dealer of choice easily and more importantly, safely. This way, productivity and efficiency between communications will be promoted as users will be able to communicate directly with the dealer of their choice using either instant voice connection or instant messaging.

Neil Barua, CEO of IPC stated that “We are very excited to be collaborating with Algomi. The successful implementation of DealCall on the IPC Financial Markets Cloud means Honeycomb network participants can work with their counterparts on large sensitive trades in an efficient and secure manner.”

By uniting the diverse IPC community of over 6000 market participants and Algomi’s clients, DealCall will create a secure and ideal environment for optimal voice trading in the future.

Algomi is dedicated to enabling all market participants to access the data needed to make valuable trading connections, through a highly effective and secure environment.

For managers and execution desks, Algomi Honeycomb transforms complex or abstract data into usable knowledge, thus helping traders find that all important bond liquidity. Algomi has developed Honeycomb software to include banks within a real-time internal network of salespeople and traders which makes it a great investment for such professionals.

By using data knowingly provided to the Synchronicity platform, banks are able to identify the best trade opportunities for all parties. This way a highly efficient collaboration is established between traders, salespeople, investor clients and banks.

However, it should be noted that these are not trading platforms – we simply but crucially,  provide the technology to help promote liquidity in the bond market.

Our mission

In the constantly changing environment of the bond market, Algomi’s innovative technology helps professionals and banks to meet their specific financial needs. Algomi’s technology unravels the full potential of the fixed income market through original and practical innovations.

About Algomi

Algomi was established in 2012 by Stu Taylor (Former Global Head of Matched Principal Trading and creator of PIN-FI at UBS) and Usman Khan and Robert Howes (Founders of CAPXD). Michael Schmidt (Former Head of European Credit Trading and IB Board Member at UBS) joined as Chairman in 2013. Algomi is financially advised and supported by Lakestar and other strategic advisors. Today, the company numbers 120 employees in London, New York and Hong Kong.

Award-winning

When it comes to tools to aid investment, Algomi has received much recognition over the years, including prestigious Fintech awards. In 2014, Honeycomb was voted as the most innovative trading product/service of the year by the Financial News and in the same year, Algomi was included in Future Fifty’s ‘One of the UK’s 50 most exciting digital businesses’. 2015 was also a great year for Algomi as Honeycomb was voted the trading technological product of the year by Risk and also received an award for Fintech innovation of the year at the Global Awards of Excellence organised by Euromoney.

In 2016, our Honeycomb network reached over 240 buy-side clients in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Algomi is an innovative Fintech company, launched in 2012 in the UK. Algomi was created by Stu Taylor (formerly of UBS), Usman Khan and Robert Howes (founders of CAPXD), and Michael Schmidt (also from UBS). Our company develops and provides software for fixed income market data for the buy-side and sell-side, within a co-operative community network. Both the Honeycomb network for the buy-side and Synchronicity for the sell-side help group and distribute information and maximise the relationships between salespeople, traders and investors.

What is Honeycomb?

Honeycomb is an award-winning online platform, which was launched in 2014. Initially, it was created for sell-side users before expanding to buy-side users in 2015 with the development of Synchronicity, a patent-pending platform. Honeycomb is a Java based application hosted by Algomi. As the name suggests, it is built on unstructured messaging among different interconnected components, just like within a beehive. Through this messaging, Honeycomb enables loose coupling, isolation and even location transparency between communications. The end result of this innovation from Algomi: investment in bond trading made easier.

Honeycomb is innovative because it introduces a new dimension of data, which were previously unable to be gathered by telephone – namely reliable information on bank distribution capability. This information is not outdated but timed with great detail. Our software is installed within a bank and provides trusted data, with their permission.

For banks, Algomi Honeycomb brings together both sales associates and traders with investor clients and internal bank parties. Using data generated by the banks and external, reliable sources, Honeycomb allows banks to find the best trade opportunities and make efficient matches between traders, salespeople and their clients. Honeycomb’s bond information network is not a trading platform but rather assists in what eventually plays out on a trading platform.

Honeycomb’s sources are diverse for maximum efficiency. Runs, axes, flow and enquiry, trade colour and the data are typically provided and updated on the platform instantaneously. Dealers have the option to search across the network in order to better understand trade-by-trade connections, without necessarily drawing attention.

Communications between the bank and investors are strictly voice-based, since we value interpersonal communications. Human interactions still lie at the heart of trading but with Algomi Investment we make these interactions more effective.

Algomi’s Honeycomb is an award-winning, innovative software program that allows portfolio managers and execution employees to turn complex or abstract information into usable finance knowledge. This information can then be used to trade with increased safety, speed and efficiency.

Below you will find Algomi’s statements on the buy-side of their software solutions.

Technology that can’t keep up

At Algomi, we realise that many buy-side firms either use limited-scale electronic platforms or the telephone to manage inquiries and execute orders. Choice of the medium is dependent on the size of trades. These processes can be very time-consuming and do not always guarantee thorough understanding of the available data.

A modern solution

The Algomi investment information tool Honeycomb is a Java-based platform that collects, filters, combines and directs information from multiple sources, mostly sell-side firms, to buy-side traders. The Honeycomb information network analyses complex or abstract data and turns this into usable knowledge. At the same time, it sets a new standard in the way dealers function, recognising that values now derive from their distribution network and not their balance sheet.

As its name suggests, Honeycomb is a multi-sided and segmental application built upon a complex algorithm. The technology used for the classification of information enables loose coupling, isolation and location transparency. Honeycomb also includes internal patches for performance improvement.

Algomi investment technology: secure, safe and speedy

Honeycomb is highly accurate because it processes real-time information and is designed to fit in with the requirements of each individual bank. The application allows investors to view information shared by multiple sell-side firms, without revealing their intentions, until they are ready to proceed to communications. The system is designed in such a way as to prevent information leakage. It also reduces market noise associated with multiple inquiries.

Once the investor has expressed interest to a specific bank, the sales contact on the inside is informed of which other salespeople have clients who are most likely to be the other side of the trade. This reduces the danger of leakage.

Honeycomb uses various information deriving from runs, axes, flow as well as enquiries. However, the execution is not done digitally in order to ensure maximum safety between the investor and the bank. This provides the buy-side party with useful information, while remaining discreet throughout the whole process.

Algomi are a leading Fintech who operate globally and offer innovative software solutions which provide real-time information on the value of bonds. The technology buy Algomi allows investment and sales decisions to be made be industry professionals. Here is what they’ve to say about the sell-side of their solutions.

Here at Algomi, we have created a real-time internal network of salespeople and traders using our Honeycomb network. This allows them to access authorised bank data in order to help identify the best and most reliable trade opportunities. Honeycomb, however, is not a trading platform, rather it is an intelligence medium enabling banks to promote efficient collaboration between all parties.

The problem

The evolution of banking has created an important need for managing huge volumes of sensitive information. At Algomi, we understand that it is not always possible to match the right people with the right trade opportunities, and this can significantly affect revenue. Sell-side employees often have to analyse an enormous amount of data on a daily basis. These data include: updated trader runs, axes, eTrade enquiries, new issue orders and allocations, research, client information and headlines.

Analysing and prioritising all of this information requires a highly analytical mind. However this is often impossible because different people prefer different analysis formats. This means good trade opportunities may go unnoticed.

The solution

The Algomi investment innovation, Synchronicity, can help overcome some of the hurdles data presents. Synchronicity is a Java based digital platform that gathers relevant trading data into one place, creating a virtual balance sheet. The algorithms bring together all the disparate information produced within the sales and trading functions of a bank. This is done in real-time in order to guarantee safety, speed and context. The information provided on Synchronicity includes reference data, sales coverage, client portfolios, trades, RFQ, axe feeds as well as live prices.

Business rules are then cross-referenced with the data to find potential matches. The results are presented by transactional probability and are promoted to the relevant salesperson. The Synchronicity algorithm is custom-made for each individual bank in order to actively represent its franchise and business model. Thus, the virtual balance sheet is indicative of the bank’s real capabilities to service their clients’ market needs.

Moreover, this Algomi investment information tool allows sales employees to gain insight into potential clients and traders, so they can analyse flow and market trends by sector, currency or bond.

Noting the large number of investments in the millions, the exponential growth in offices and employees it appears they must be doing something correct. The number of financial organisations who have signed up to their services is increasing too which appears promising and indicates the solutions must be making a difference.

In recent years, the fixed-income market and technological advancements have become increasingly interconnected. Today investment tools provided by Algomi are more advanced than ever. They are eager to leverage the power of innovative investment technology to help the entire financial industry achieve greater efficiency and profitability.

Then and now

Bond trading as we know it is quite a recent creation. Back in the day, the process started with a salesperson going to a trader and then back again for as long as was needed. Communicating by phone alone, this used to be a long and tedious process for thousands of buy-side employees.

By that time, it was evident, that a new type of technology was needed in order to provide safety and efficiency. In 2012, Algomi created just this, enabling banks to establish real-time internal collaborations with investors. Algomi investment information tools in the form of Honeycomb for the buy-side and Synchronicity for the sell-side, minimises illiquidity and promotes better communication between all parties.

They expressed, “we realised relatively quickly that illiquidity was one of the main causes of time-consuming market communications. Despite the evolution of the market in the past decades, many people still keep track of trades and missed trades on notebooks or Excel spreadsheets, without necessarily sharing this information across the company”.

Algomi investment information tools are revolutionary because by having direct access to the investment banks, they are able to digitise all the franchise data in a trading environment. Using this information, they then identify the right people inside an organisation to connect buyers and sellers, based on a thorough analysis of their trading histories and other information. This type of ‘bond information network’ helps facilitate connections in large, illiquid transactions.

Smoothing the way for trade

Their innovative technology can connect every salesperson in an organisation, so they gather their information safely and reliably before deciding on what trades to make. Algomi now have plugged the buyer and seller-side into this system, so that their clients can see the developing nature of liquidity at various institutions. With the Algomi investment information technology, they’ve managed to create a comprehensive trading network, increasing the efficiency and speed of voice trades between banks and investors.

Algomi is a leading financial technology firm established in 2012, which is often described as a cross between Amazon and Sales force for bond market intelligence. They state, at Algomi we focus on providing innovative technological solutions for the financial market. Our advanced investment tools consist of two main software programs – Synchronicity and Honeycomb. The former focuses on the sell-side, whereas the latter targets the buy-side.

From then to now and beyond

Initially, Algomi investment information tools were designed for banks, but we have since added asset managers and investors to our successful Honeycomb network. This way, they can easily find the best bank in order to implement large trades. In addition to expanding our clientele, we have also expanded geographically. Our headquarters are in London but we now have a division in the USA and several other European cities.

A survey conducted by Desk’s Trading Intentions revealed that while 4% of users were already using Algomi investment information tools, a third expect to be using Algomi technology within 5 years. The survey was conducted across 24 buy-side firms based in Europe and the USA.

More on Honeycomb

Honeycomb provides buy-side firms the opportunity to critically interrogate the bond data provided by banks. This way, it is easier to establish who is likely to be the best counter party for an individual trade. In addition to that, Honeycomb provides an analytical record of why a specific broker has been chosen, which is matters under EU regulation.

Honeycomb’s future

With the success of Honeycomb, we are now looking to develop voice-enabled capability, to reduce operation time even further. Electronic trading is ideal for commoditised bonds, but we want to include more sophisticated relationships. This addition could be developed as part of non-commoditised trades in other asset classes, but also structured notes or even commodities.

With just one click, Honeycomb users will securely connect to their chosen dealer. This will enhance speed and productivity, as users will have an all-inclusive experience and be able to immediately communicate with counter parties using either voice or instant messaging.

We will be collaborating with IPC Systems – a leading global financial markets technology and service provider with over 6,000 financial market participants – to deliver Deal Call.

Financial technology, better known as “fintech,” is exploding in the UK right now, with startups popping up all over the place, doing everything from crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending to bringing blockchain technology to the banks.

British fintech startups raised $962 million (£676.9 million) in investment funding last year, according to KPMG. London alone accounting for $743.7 million (£523.3 million) of that.

Business Insider has been covering the sector closely and has rounded up the 40 most exciting people in the scene right now.

We looked at who’s done cool and interesting things in the past year, including companies that have raised money or grown rapidly. We’ve also tried to include some of the less obvious names — the people doing great things behind the scenes — as well the faces out front.

The list spans entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, regulators, hackers, and investors. Did we miss anyone? Let us know in the comments. Now check out who made the cut below.

40. Kevin Beardsley — Elliptic, Head of Business Development

What company does: Bitcoin and blockchain analysis tools for financial services and law enforcement.

Headcount: 9.

Funding: $7 million (£4.8 million).

Why they’re cool: Elliptic started out trying to get financial services interested in bitcoin by offering analysis and custodian services but has since morphed into offering tools to law enforcement to help them catch criminals that are using bitcoin — but it still has finance customers.

Beardsley is helping to drive the startup’s expansion and the company recently bagged $5 million (£3.4 million) from investors including Santander InnoVentures to drive growth. In a past life, Beardsley co-founded Beija, a super-premium brand of Brazilian spirit cachaça.

39. Mulenga Agley — Monese, VP of Growth

What company does: Mobile-only bank account designed for migrants.

Headcount: 22.

Funding: $5 million (£3.4 million).

Why they’re cool: Former ad man Agley left clients like BMW, Coca Cola, and Natwest to join mobile banking startup Monese after being wowed by founder and CEO Norris Koppel’s vision.

As VP of Growth, Mulenga is charged with getting people interested in the app, which lets migrants easily open bank accounts in the country they’re going to via their mobile. He’s having great success, with a waiting list of 50,000 and 35,000 downloads of Monese so far.

38. Alick Varma — Osper, CEO and founder

What company does: Pre-paid money card for kids.

Headcount: 22.

Funding: $11.2 million (£7.7 million.)

Why they’re cool: Varma was given responsibility for managing hundreds of pounds at a young age by his accountant parents, charged with buying his own school clothes and drawing up budgets. That experience inspired him to set up Osper, a per-paid money card for kids that lets parents monitor their children’s spending and set up regular pocket money payments, among other features.

Varma trained as a maths teacher but worked at with Kenyan mobile money company M-Pesa and Spotify before setting up Osper.

37. Gillian Roche-Saunders — UmbrellaHunter.com, Fintech consultant

What company does: Consultancy.

Headcount: N/A.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: Gillian keeps fintech startups from breaking the law — no mean feat. She works with the UK Crowdfunding Association, UK Business Angels Association, and provides much-needed data on applications from startups to get regulated.

Her new venture, Umbrellahunter.com, matches start-ups with companies that are already FCA regulated and can extend their licence to cover the startup. These agreements, called appointed representative arrangements, mean that in a matter of weeks the start-up can be doing business that usually requires FCA authorisation. Gillian fell in love with photography when traveling around India and dabbles in wedding photography every now and again.

36. Nick Hungerford — Nutmeg, CEO and founder

What company does: Online wealth manager.

Headcount: 80.

Funding: $46.6 million (£32 million.)

Why they’re cool: Stanford and Exeter grad Hungerford worked at Barclays and stockbroker Brewin Dolphin before setting up Nutmeg, an online wealth management platform. Hungerford’s vision was to make investment advice that’s usually reserved for the rich affordable to all, reducing overheads thanks to technology. Nutmeg lets people invest with professional guidance from as little as £1,000.

Hungerford is an avid bath Rugby fan and is currently spending most of his free time prepping for his wedding.

35. Ruby Childs — Pariti, Lead Data Scientist

What company does: Personal finance app that links to all your accounts and helps you save.

Headcount: 6.

Funding: $710,000 (£487,500.)

Why they’re cool: Childs was the most nominated person when BI opened up for suggestions for this list, so clearly she makes an impression. At Pariti, she says her jobs is to “gather how we can make more meaning from people’s transactions to help them save. For example, we need to know if people are transferring across accounts, as this can be confused with spending. Or what counts as an income and what counts as a bill?”

Pariti is the brainchild of Matthew Ford, who was head of acquisitions at OnTrees, the personal finance app launched by DMGT Media and sold to MoneySupermarket.com in 2014. Pariti links to all your bank accounts to give your a holistic view of what’s going on and helps you set saving and spending targets.

34. Paolo Galvani — MoneyFarm, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Online money management.

Headcount: 45.

Funding: $16.7 million (£11.5 million.)

Why they’re cool: Italian Paolo Galvani began his career at investment banks, working for big-name firms like Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank between 1998 and 2008. Today Galvani runs a wealth management startup called MoneyFarm, whose ‘robo-advisor’ app offers investment guidance to people with limited savings.

MoneyFarm raised €16 million (£11.5 million) in Series B funding for its platform last year and now employs 45 people in total, with 20 in London and 25 in Milan.

33. Usman Khan — Algomi, CTO and cofounder

What company does: Information platform for bond traders to hook them up to the best leads.

Headcount: 140.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: Former UBS banker Khan built the initial technology behind Algomi, which is being used by 15 top banks and over 170 buy-side clients. Khan is a fintech geek through and through, so much so that he built a mock-up blockchain at home using rented AWS servers just to see how the thing works.

32. Peter Smith — Blockchain, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Offers a number of bitcoin services — including a wallet for holding bitcoin and a tool for exploring transaction on the blockchain, the public ledger of all bitcoin transactions.

Headcount: 48.

Funding: $30 million (£20.6 million.)

Why they’re cool: Blockchain has had a busy year, launching in dozens of new markets and opening multiple new offices. In July 2015, Peter Smith was chosen to accompany British Prime Minister David Cameron on a trade mission to South-East Asia with a host of more conventional companies.

It was also named the best cryptocurrency startup at the annual Europas Awards, and London scale-up of the year by TechCityInsider.

31. Magdalena Kron — Barclays, Head of Barclays Rise London and VP of Open Innovation

What company does: Rise is Barclays’ global innovation programme which operates in London, Manchester, and New York.

Headcount: N/A.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: Krön connects startups to growth opportunities through Barclays Rise, the bank’s accelerator programme and co-working space. She previously worked with Capital List, a free service which matches up startups and investors in London.

She is also co-founder of Geek Girl Meetup – a network for and by women and girls interested in tech, design, and startups.

30. Ben Brabyn — Level39, Head of Level39

What company does: Canary Wharf office space and accelerator for fintech.

Headcount: 207 members.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: Ben Brabyn is a former marine and JP Morgan analyst. In February, he was appointed to lead the Canary Wharf Group’s fintech accelerator Level39, which is home to 207 members. Brabyn says he wants to help Level39’s members “bloom into a thousand flowers.”

29. Giles Andrews — Zopa, Executive Chairman and cofounder

What company does: Peer-to-peer lending.

Headcount: 180.

Funding: $80 million (£55 million.)

Why they’re cool: Andrews enjoys the accolade of being one of the creators of the whole idea of peer-to-peer lending — Zopa was the first company to pioneer it when Andrews helped cofound it in 2005.

Zopa has now lent over £1.4 billion, £600 million of that in the last year alone. He ran the company for 8 years, stepping back into an Executive Chairman role last August. He’s now something of a fintech ambassador, popping up at conferences and events to bang the drum for peer-to-peer.

Andrews moved to East London way before it was fashionable and lives there with his wife and 2 children.

28. Fred Destin — Accel Ventures, Partner

What company does: Venture capital.

Headcount: 186.

Funding: $19.56 billion (£13.59 billion).

Why they’re cool: Belgian Fred Destin is a general partner for top-tier venture capital investment firm Accel Partners, which raised another $500 million (£347 million) to invest in startups in April.

Although Destin is primarily interested in consumer businesses, the former Goldman Sachs banker also invests in fintech and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. Fintech companies that have been backed by Destin include The Currency Cloud and CapitalIQ.

27. Luke Lang — CrowdCube, CMO and cofounder

What company does: Crowdfunding.

Headcount: 80+.

Funding: $18.9 million (£13 million.)

Why they’re cool: Lang is the best-known face in crowdfunding, as the chief marketing officer of the UK’s biggest crowdfunding site CrowdCube. The platform has raised over £150 million for companies over its platform since launch in 2011 and recently partnered with traditional City stockbroker Numis to bring the concept to old school finance. Lang is a keen triathlete and doing his first Ironman race this June in Switzerland.

26. Neil Woodford — Woodford Investment Management, Head of Investment and founder

What company does: Investment house.

Headcount: 35.

Funding: $20 billion (£14 billion) assets under management.

Why they’re cool: Woodford is one of the few people bridging the gap between the old school City of London and fintech, and definitely the most high profile. Since leaving Invesco in 2014, star fund manager Woodford has been a big supporter of fintech.

His new fund has taken positions in P2P Global Investments, which invests in peer-to-peer lending platforms, and VPC Specialty Lending, which does something similar. Woodford has also invested in challenger bank Atom, lending platform RateSetter, and crowdfunding platform Seedrs.

25. Shachar Bialick — Curve, CEO and cofounder

What company does: App linked to a MasterCard that lets you use all your various cards in that one card.

Headcount: 17.

Funding: $5.5 million (£3.8 million.)

Why they’re cool: Israeli serial entrepreneur Bialick is behind Curve, a MasterCard linked to an app that lets you use the one card for all your different bits of plastic — American Express, Visa, MasterCard, loyalty card, you name it.

The startup recently came out of stealth mode and has a list of seed investors that reads like a who’s who of fintech: TransferWise cofounder Taavet Hinrikus, Ed Wray from Betfair, Tandem Bank cofounder Ricky Knox, Azimo cofounder Michael Kent, Investec Group, Seedcamp, the Google Wallet founders, and the founders of Money2020.

24. Anna Wallace — FCA, Head of Innovation Hub

What company does: UK Financial Regulator.

Headcount: N/A.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: The FCA is repeatedly cited by entrepreneurs as Britain’s secret weapon in the global fintech race, thanks to its understanding approach to the emerging industry. The Innovation Hub helps fintechs in the UK get regulated, even if they are doing something no-one else has done before.

Wallace, who heads the new department, previously worked for the Scottish government and the European Commission. As a policymaker, Anna led the FCA’s intervention in the payday lending market and Scottish legislation that saw the end to tobacco displays in shops.

23. Jan Hammer — Index Ventures, Partner

What company does: Venture capital investor.

Headcount: 20.

Funding: $1.24 billion (£850 million).

Why they’re cool: Czech Republic-born Hammer has been a partner at Index since 2010, before fintech was even a thing. He’s spearheaded Index’s strategy on fintech, investing in the likes of Dutch payment unicorn Adyen, financial data company Credit Benchmark, international money transfer service TransferWise, and free stock trading app RobinHood.

Any free time is spent with his three daughters who are trying to get him into Peppa Pig. Not to be confused with the 1980s synth legend of the same name.

Fintech is hot.

And it’s global. $20 billion (£14 billion) was invested in fintech globally in 2015, according to KPMG. The UK and Europe are at the crux of fintech disruption, with venture investment pouring into an increasingly innovation-permissive regulatory environment.

22. Dan Cobley — Brightbridge Ventures, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Fintech-focused venture capital fund.

Headcount: 6.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: Cobley left the top job at Google in the UK and Ireland to venture into fintech and is helping to incubate and fund new startups at Brightbridge, the fintech VC arm of internet business incubator Blenheim Chalcot.

He’s so far helped found free credit scoring platform ClearScore, online business finance site Business Finance Compared, and employee loan service SalaryFinance. When he’s not advising startups, Cobley can be found battling the London traffic on his Brompton.

21. Ismail Ahmed — WorldRemit, CEO and cofounder

What company does: International money remittance over smartphones.

Headcount: 230.

Funding: $200 million (£137.5 million.)

Why they’re cool: WorldRemit helps migrants easily send money back to family overseas via their smartphone. It was valued at $500 million (£345 million) in a $100 million (£69 million) funding round last year, led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), which has also backed the likes of Facebook, Spotify, and Netflix. In February it landed a $45 million credit line.

Prior to setting up WorldRemit, Somali-born Ahmed was an anti-money laundering advisor to the UN before turning whistleblower after discovering corruption in Nairobi.

20. Ricky Knox — Tandem Bank, cofounder

What company does: App-only challenger bank.

Headcount: 88.

Funding: Not public.

Why they’re cool: Knox is one of the few serial fintech entrepreneurs in London. Prior to setting up app-only challenger bank Tandem he co-founded online money remittance platform Azimo with business partner Michael Kent and was also a co-founder of money transfer business SmallWorldFS in the mid-2000s.

Tandem is currently giving away single shares in its new bank to create a community of “co-founders” who will help shape what it looks like and is about to launch a crowdfunding campaign, letting co-founders put more money in. The app-only bank has so far raised “tens of millions,” according to Knox, from backers including eBay cofounder Pierre Omidyar.

19. Hiroki Takeuchi — GoCardless, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Makes it easy for small businesses to accept direct debit.

Headcount: 69.

Funding: $24.8 million (£17.4 million).

Why they’re cool: Takeuchi is the CEO of GoCardless, the London fintech startup that uses smart technology to make it much easier for businesses to accept and process direct debits. It works with major companies such as TripAdvisor, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and Box. The startup raised $13 million in March.

Takeuchi graduated Oxford, started his company, and then joined the Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator.

18. Andy Murray — Tennis star and Seedrs partner

What company does: Crowdfunding investment platform.

Headcount: N/A.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: Tennis star Andy Murray was announced as a long term partner of crowdfunding platform Seedrs last June. Murray is now investing his hard-earned tennis winnings into UK startups through the platform and validating the crowdfunding investment model in the process.

In February, the world number two backed Oppo Ice Cream, Commuter Club, Landbay, We Are Colony, and Readbug.

17. Mariano Belinky — Santander InnoVentures, Managing Partner

What company does: Santander’s fintech-focused venture capital fund.

Headcount: 9.

Funding: $100 million (£68.7 million.)

Why they’re cool: Belinky is the face of Santander’s fintech efforts and arguably the most well-known banking representative on the London fintech scene.

As Managing Partner of InnoVentures he has overseen investment in iZettle, Ripple, Kabbage, Digital Asset Holdings, and Elliptic. His collection of graphic and slogan t-shirts are always fun to spot and conferences and events.

16. Mustafa al-Bassam — Secure Trading, Blockchain and Cyber Security Specialist

What company does: Payment management company.

Headcount: 300.

Funding: N/A.

Why they’re cool: 21-year-old Mustafa Al-Bassam made headlines for all the wrong reasons three years ago when he was named as one of the individuals involved in the notorious hacking group LulzSec, which attacks everything from Fox to the NHS. Al-Bassam was handed a 20-month suspended sentence by the UK courts.

He’s now studying computer science at King’s College in London (after a two-year internet ban), and is rising in prominence in the UK tech scene. Last year, Forbes named him one of its “30 Under 30” to watch in European tech and in between studies he works part time for fintech payments firm Secure Trading, advising the company on security, and working on blockchain research project “Trustery.”

15. Leah Templeman — Mondo, Head of Pre-Paid

What company does: Digital-only bank.

Headcount: 25.

Funding: $11.6 million (£8 million.)

Why they’re cool: Leah has been with Mondo since day one and was at another neobank, Starling, along with Mondo CEO Tom Blomfield before that. She currently runs the prepaid card operations, which is all of Mondo’s business until it receives its full banking licence. Mondo recently raised £1 million ($1.4 million) from the public in 96 seconds via CrowdCube.

14. Ilya Kondrashov — MarketInvoice, COO and cofounder

What company does: Peer-to-peer invoice financing.

Headcount: 90.

Funding: $20 million (£13.75 million.)

Why they’re cool: Kondrashov is the less well-known of the two founders of MarketInvoice but internally the former Goldman Sachs analyst and Cambridge graduate is renown for his hip hop karaoke at office parties.

MarketInvoice last August raised £6 million from Nordic venture capital firm Northzone, which also backed Spotify, and the family office of Paul Forster, the co-founder of job search engine Indeed.com.

13. Arya Taware — Real Funds, CEO and founder

What company does: Peer-to-peer lending for small and medium sized house builders.

Headcount: 5.

Funding: $1.4 million (£1 million.)

Why they’re cool: Arya wants to do property lending with a difference, making sure that the type of properties being built are right for the local community i.e. affordable. Taware came up with the idea while an intern — she’s still only in her early 20s — and had to persevere to get the male dominated investment and construction industries to take her seriously. She grew up in India and has previously worked for Local Authorities.

12. Christian Faes — LendInvest, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Peer-to-peer mortgage platform.

Headcount: 90.

Funding: $55 million (£37.8 million.)

Why they’re cool: Straight-talking Australian Faes is a leading light in the so-called “PropTech” sector — property technology. His platform focuses on the financing aspect of property, letting investors lend money to developers in the form of a short-term mortgage for returns of over 5% a year.

The company raised £17 million in March from venture capital firm Atomico, which was set up by Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom.

11. Juan Lobato — Ebury, cofounder

What company does: Online small business financing for SMEs who deal overseas.

Headcount: 339.

Funding: $119 million (£81.8 million.)

Why they’re cool: Lobato helped overhaul the telecoms world in the late 1990s as head of corporate development at Telefonica. Now he’s riding a similar tech-driven wave in the finance world, raising $83 million (£57 million) in November to fuel the growth of his online small business finance company Ebury.

Spanish-born Lobato met cofounder Salvador Garcia while working as a university lecturer in Madrid 15 years ago — Garcia was his student. Lobato is also an investor and board member of predictive lead generation platform Growth Intelligence and team analytics company Saberr.

10. Nikolay Storonsky — Revolut, CEO and cofounder

What company does: A pre-paid card and app that lets you send and spend money abroad at the interbank rate with no commission.

Headcount: 35

Funding: $7 million (£4.8 million.)

Why they’re cool: Russian-born Storosky started out as a derivatives trader at Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse and hit upon the idea for Revolut as he ran up FX fees while travelling around the world.

Only launched last July, the card linked to an app already has 160,000 users and is signing up 1,500 new customers a day. Revolut is close to sealing a £10 million Series A round. In his spare time Storosky is a keen kite surfer.

9. Marta Krupinska — Azimo, General Manager and cofounder

What company does: International money transfer via app.

Headcount: 85.

Funding: $33.4 million (£23 million.)

Why they’re cool: Polish ex-pat Marta is one of Azimo’s cofounders and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the firm. In the past two years, the company has seen 100% growth in personnel and raised £21 million ($30.5 million) in funding.

Previously, Marta built Travelnity, a social media website for travellers and expats. She was named by Forbes as one of Europe’s 30 Under 30 in Finance in 2016.

8. Dan Gandesha — Property Partner, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Crowdfunded property investment — buy a chunk of a rental property for as little as £50.

Headcount: 43.

Funding: $32.7 million (£22.5 million.)

Why they’re cool: Like Christian Faes, fast-talking Gandesha is another leading figure in the PropTech scene.

His 2-year-old startup, that lets people invest in rental properties for small sums, recently landed £13 million from Octopus Ventures, Index Ventures, and Dawn Capital, and has seen almost £30 million invested over its platform. Gandesha was previously head of startup investment at Sky.

7. Husayn Kassai — Onfido, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Background and identity checking service for fintech firms and on-demand services.

Headcount: 90.

Funding: $30.3 million (£20.9 million).

Why they’re cool: Hussayn Kassai left his analyst job at investment banking firm Merill Lynch to focus on building Onfido, a platform that allows fintech and sharing economy companies to carry out background checks on people to ensure they are who they say there are.

Kassai helped the identity verification platform raise $25 million in April, bringing total funding in the company to over $33 million.

6. Anthony Watson — Uphold, CEO

What company does: Blockchain-based platform that lets people store and move money around the world for low fees.

Headcount: 87.

Funding: $22 million (£15.1 million.)

Why they’re cool: Former Nike and Barclays CIO Watson recently became chair of Labour’s Business and Enterprise Council and in February was named the most influential LGBT business leader in the UK by The Daily Telegraph and Out at Work.

Anthony also serves as a member of the National Board of Directors, Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee of GLAAD, a US-based LGBT media advocacy group. In between all of that he runs Uphold, an international money platform that’s aiming to make moving and trading money affordable to all.

5. Pam Burton — Funding Circle, COO

What company does: Peer-to-peer lender.

Headcount: 570.

Total funding: $300 million (£206.2 million.)

Why they’re cool: Burton is in charge of operations at Funding Circle in the UK, its home market. The peer-to-peer lender has seen over £1 billion lent to small and medium-sized businesses over its platform since launch and was valued at $1 billion (£690 million) last year.

Pam was previously Head of European Marketing Operations at LoveFilm and won the Google Award for Women in Digital in 2015.

4. Ollie Purdue — Loot, cofounder and CEO

What company does: Student finance app.

Headcount: 8.

Total funding: $290,900 (£200,000.)

Why they’re cool: Purdue is just 22 and had the idea for Loot, a pre-paid card that helps students manage and track spending, while at University. Despite both his and the business’ young age, the startup is already in talks to partner with RBS and is close to announcing seed funding of £1 million, according to sources close to the company.

3. Eileen Burbidge — Passion Capital, Partner/Government Fintech Envoy

What company does: Venture capital/advisor.

Headcount: 9.

Total funding: $130 million (£90 million) under management.

Why they’re cool: Burbidge is a venture capitalist who has invested in well-known fintech startups such as GoCardless and Mondo. She’s also one of the most well-known faces of the London startup scene — she’s the chair of Tech City UK, the UK Treasury’s special envoy for fintech, and is one of Prime Minister David Cameron’s business advisors.

2. Taavet Hinrikus — TranferWise, CEO and cofounder

What company does: Online international money transfer.

Headcount: 500.

Total funding: $91 million (£62.5 million.)

Why they’re cool: If rumoured unicorn TransferWise is the poster child of London’s booming fintech scene and then Taavet is the face. Hinrikus is helping expand TransferWise globally: the company recently signed a deal with Estonia’s largest bank and opened up in the $25 billion Mexico-USA remittance corridor. The startup is looking to do more bank tie-ups and a fresh funding round is strongly rumoured.

1. Tom Blomfield — Mondo, CEO and cofounder
Mondo CEO Tom Blomfield.Mondo
What company does: Digital-only bank.

Headcount: 14.

Total funding: $11.6 million (£8 million.)

Why they’re cool: Blomfield is the CEO of Mondo, the fast-growing London fintech app that’s creating a branchless bank. It ran a campaign on crowdfunding site CrowdCube in February that was so popular that it brought down the site. Despite that, it went on to raise £1 million in just 96 seconds. Before starting Mondo, Blomfield was one of the cofounders of GoCardless, another fintech startup.

More Fintech Investment Reviews here.

Some of Europe’s biggest lenders have opened their doors for a former UBS Group AG executive to install an internal search machine that tracks availability of their bonds. Especially the ones people rarely trade.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG are among 14 banks that agreed to use the system developed by Algomi Ltd., according to co-founder Stu Taylor. It lets banks give access to their pre-trade data to fund managers who want to discreetly identify who owns corporate or government bonds that are not widely traded.

Algomi, founded in 2012, increased its asset-management clients to 140 in October from 50 in May. The growth indicates an eagerness among investors for a new technology that helps them trade more efficiently as regulations curb banks’ ability to make markets and expand their bond inventories.

“The bond-market liquidity problem is real and well-documented,” Taylor, Algomi’s chief executive officer, said in an interview at the Fixed Income Leader Summit last week in Barcelona. The company “seeks to address the issue with proper pre-trade information. None of this data appears on websites and terminals. This is why we are different.”

The market-making pinch has worsened in the past five years. The size of U.S. Treasury market, for example, has expanded by more than 45 percent in five years to $12.9 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. At the same time, the five largest primary dealers — those financial institutions that trade with the Treasury — have cut their balance sheets by about 50 percent from 2010, according to data from Tabb Group LLC.

In longer-maturity German bonds, Europe’s benchmark sovereign securities, the size of transaction that can be executed at the best available bids and offers, a market gauge known as order-book depth, dropped to 16 million euros from 25 million euros in the first half of the year, the Bank for International Settlements said in September. The decline means even a relatively small increase in trading volume can spark larger price swings.

Algomi harnesses data from banks so it can be searched by its buy-side clients using its Honeycomb network. Once given permission, an investor can click on debt he wants to buy or sell, and a heat map will appear on the screen. It may show, for example, that HSBC traded that bond a week ago or that Deutsche Bank currently has interest in the issue. Banks may share pre-trade data with their own customers to show them what’s available.

Spokesmen for HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse confirmed they’re involved with Algomi.

Changing Landscape

The London-based company is trying to capitalize on the changing landscape of fixed-income investing. Regulations that reduce dealers’ market-making capacity and central-bank monetary intervention are two key factors that have sapped liquidity, making it more difficult to trade some bonds without causing exaggerated price swings.

“It is wrong to think that these regulations are misplaced,” Taylor said. “They are there because we had a problem, and risk was not handled appropriately,” said Taylor. “Let’s start working on how to behave in the new market. We do need to be more creative.”

Algomi entered into a space where companies compete to offer liquidity solutions, although not everyone is successful. Fixed-income trading platform Bondcube collapsed in July after three months. While Algomi is different from Bondcube as it offers aggregate pre-trade information, it’s competing with numerous initiatives that promised to make life easier for bond investors.

UBS Alumni

Taylor was formerly UBS’s global head of matched principal trading in fixed income. He set up Algomi with three UBS alumni: Usman Khan, who developed a dark-pool bond trading platform for the Swiss bank, Michael Schmidt, who once headed its European credit trading, and engineer Robert Howes.

The London-based firm had financial backing from Lakestar LP, a venture capital investor in Airbnb Inc., Spotify Ltd. and Skype, three of the companies that shook up traditional services in hotels, music and telephone communications, according to the companies’ websites.

Algomi’s investment service seeks to restore market depth by creating virtual inventory of bonds in a similar way to how Airbnb fostered a marketplace for lodging, Taylor said. The Airbnb website, which allows people to advertise and rent, now says it has 1.5 million listings across 190 countries.

“Virtual inventory can be scaled and grown much quicker than real inventory,” he said. “This is the same problem that banks have. They’ve been running on a real-inventory business model based on risk. This new type of technology can bring back market velocity.”

Bloomberg LP provides bond-trading services in competition with banks and securities firms.

More Fintech Investment Reviews can be found here.