My take on the Augmentum Capital Markets Day: #Fintech purpose in action and great results..

happen when investment teams and founders align

Last Thursday Augmentum Fintech hosted its Capital Markets Day, which as a Director to the company I am delighted to attend. Taking place in the Gherkin the thought did not escape me that really 'the sky is the limit' for Tim Levene and team.

From the start, it was different to any other CMD: apart from 'what' the fund delivered, the 'how' was on the agenda too with two team members Reginald de Wasseige and Ellen Logan explaining ADA, the platform that supercharges the fintech network, investment experience and with the help of some AI supplies the team with some real competitive advantage at every stage of the origination process. Much appreciated by the audience as I was later told over lunch, we then continued with another 'supercharger' Janine Hirt who left no doubt (poor me from Amsterdam) that the UK is the place to be for #fintech. (Small note: NL overtook FR and DE last year in terms of start-up capital in Europe, maybe not all fintech but still, one to watch with Holland FinTech ). I love the pro-active attitude Innovate Finance takes with e.g. their General Election Manifesto and was positively surprised that Fintech carries an overall #SDG Net Impact Rating of +49, which is higher than I thought. Great work.

A series of founders then opened up about not just the business and performance but also how they overcame challenges and why they do what they do. #purpose in action, for me the key reason to be in the fintech space. A few take-aways from my personal notebook.

Artificial Intelligence demonstrated clearly how much there is to be disrupted in the full insurance chain and the one thing that thrills me the most is that they do not focus on one level, but engage all players: brokers, exchange and insurers to improve the combined ratio stack across premium, loss and expenses ratios. Interestingly most questions from the audience geared around: "why did it take so long for Artificial 'plays' to come to the market. Insurance is a long term game and as such came later to the market, it also means the opportunities here are still enormous and Artificial is a key and early party in this platform play.

The Tide CEO came on screen live from India, a huge growth market for this #SME play who very successfully went from a 'pay wallet' to a full SME financial needs platform, which sounds easy but surely is the result of great resilience and execution power. Supporting SME is their 'why' and delighted to see they support the NetZer0 initiative and set up the Tide Women in Business initiative in the UK and India.

Farewill CEO Dan Garrett demonstated live that the key passion does not fade and enables pivoting, adapting and growing in changing market circumstances. With a 90 NPS score it is no surprise they thrive, now focusing on three priorities: direct cremations, B2B distributed wills and the ecosystem flywheel, which is aptly illustrated by their success in charity legacy fundraising.

All founders spoke by heart, they know and live their stories every day and it shows. For Wayhome gradual homeownership is the deal and they are raising a next fund to deploy. How relevant and in the moment can fintech be? For iwoca listening to the customer is key and Christoph Rieche recounted how one business owner told him: "Borrowing is like climbing a huge wall just to land on a load of broken glass with bleeding feet".

The Zopa Bank story has been told many times and is a key fintech whose business model does NOT rely on (current) interest rates. Their resilience comes through laser focus on best lending, NPS focus - the customer and tremendous operating leverage - the last one being the toughest for start ups to achieve. The Zopa Current account closes the loop for its customers, adding to more NPS I guess...

All in all a totally invigorating and super transparent day. I feel we are at an inflexion point where we start to see through the endless 'speak' on both sides of the equation since the 'birth of fintech' from exalted optimism to - passive - negativity. Results are here for new plays and incumbents who benefit from the technology and new busines models, but most importantly for the consumers and business owners who are better served, at better rates in a relevant way for today's economy.

Augmentum quite simply marches on, with patience, with passion, with dedication with a great team and AI empowered tools to support their fast and firm decision making.

For numbers and facts, go and visit the Augmentum website and invest(gate) for yourself.