A physical platform is being created for FinTech companies – a place where all parts of the Swedish FinTech ecosystem can communicate, collaborate and integrate.
The Stockholm FinTech Hub is an independent, not-for-profit innovation hub that will launch in Q1 2017. The overall aim is to accelerate and promote the development of Swedish world-class FinTech, InsurTech and RegTech startups and high growth companies. Behind the initiative are Matthew Argent, Partner BLC Advisors, KPMG, NFT Ventures, and Invest Stockholm.
FinTech is attracting great interest throughout the world and continues to grow. In the past five years, Stockholm-based companies received 18 percent of all private placements in FinTech companies across Europe. The numbers show that Stockholm continuously, year after year, attracts almost one-fifth of the overall FinTech investments in Europe.
Stockholm FinTech Hub is an initiative that reflects a collaborative effort between entrepreneurs, large banks, investors, corporates, regulators and government - to help and nurture financial services focused tech startups.
“The ecosystem of FinTech-startups and high growth companies in Sweden is one of the best in the world. But to keep the excellent standards up in a global market we need to evolve the support ecosystem that supports these companies. Stockholm has some exceptional ‘horizontal’ general tech co-working spaces, meetups, accelerators and investors. We are now at the stage where ‘verticalised’, specialised environments need to be created that allow FinTech founders and entrepreneurs access to a support system that can tackle the challenges and maximise the opportunities that are specific to FinTech companies” says Matthew Argent, Co-Founder of the Stockholm FinTech Hub and partner BLC Advisor.
Alongside KPMG and NFT Ventures, Stockholm FinTech Hub’s steering committee includes a number of significant players within the financial technology ecosystem such as Invest Stockholm, Synch Law as well as founders of already successful FinTech companies. More partners will be announced in due course.
“Stockholm FinTech Hub will be an enabler and a vital link between startups, regulators and established financial institutions. It will be a place where FinTech companies can access a dedicated support ecosystem designed specifically for the FinTech environment, including access to 42 other FinTech Hubs across the world where co-operation agreements have been formed,” Matthew Argent continues.
“At KPMG, we have a solid knowledge of the FS sector as well as global partnerships with FinTech companies. We see the importance of Sweden having a physical centre for this rapidly growing sector and can support our clients in identifying the partnerships, investment opportunities and acquisition candidates that this sector offers,” says Kenneth Sorensen, partner responsible for FinTech at KPMG in Sweden.
“We are proud to support this innovation hub. With our knowledge and experience of the FinTech sector, we see a number of advantages in being able to work more proactively and having a hub for the sector,” says Johan Lundberg, Founding Partner & CEO at NFT Ventures.
"Stockholm has a long history of innovation in the financial industry and is today the second leading FinTech city in Europe. We are very excited that Stockholm will now get a physical hub where people from different backgrounds can meet, exchange ideas and create new innovations," says Anna Gissler, CEO Invest Stockholm
Q1 2017 will see the official opening of Stockholm FinTech Hub.