The boss of North East-based Atom Bank says the region can become a hotbed for the fintech sector and provide hundreds of good jobs for talented young people.
Speaking at the first Fintech North conference in Newcastle, Atom CEO Mark Mullen said that the bank had been set up in Durham despite doubts from investors in London about the availability of local talent.
After initially relying on investment from individuals in the North East, Atom has gone on to raise £450m in investment – the largest amount of money raised by any of the 海角视频’s startup banks – and is regularly tipped to become a $1bn tech ‘unicorn’.
Mr Mullen said Atom, which recently announced the creation of 70 more jobs in the region, would grow further next year.
But he warned that the North East had to do more to grow its fintech sector to keep talented graduates in the region.
He said: “When Atom started out, our seed capital came from a small group of North East-based investors. Our institutional investors, all based in London, had only one question about us choosing Durham as our home: can you access the talent? The answer is yes.
“Admittedly, there is still some work to do, and so we’re investing a hell of a lot into the North East.
“For example, we have a close relationship with the Institute of Coding at Newcastle University, we’re The Prince’s Trust STEM partner for the North East, we run an incubator service from our HQ in Durham, and we have two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with Newcastle University and Durham University.
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“We’ll be raising more capital in 2020, and we’ll be spending it here in the North East. It has always been our intention to embed ourselves in our community, so whatever happens to the future of Atom, we create value each day we exist.
“There is no better kick you can get from business than creating employment in your community. There are fantastic universities in the North East, and there aren’t enough jobs around for the talent that flows out of them.
“So yes, this region has the talent - now what we need is more entrances into the FinTech ecosystem here, and more investors to make decisions in favour of the region.”
The conference also heard from start-ups Kani Payments, Paid and Honcho, who were all awarded places on the prestigious Tech Nation FinTech accelerator programme this year, and from software giant Sage.
The region’s fintech scene was praised by the chairman of FinTech North Chris Sier, who is also the Treasury fintech envoy.
He said: “Not only does the North East have Sage and Atom, it’s got Virgin Money, Worldpay, Tesco Bank, TSB, and the Department for Work and Pensions, which you might not think of as an innovator, but it was actually the first government organisation in the 海角视频 to launch a blockchain digital identity payment solution. The universities in the region are also an incredible asset and a driver for innovation.
“We’re thrilled at the turn out for our first FinTech North conference in the North East, and it certainly shows that there’s an appetite in the region for greater collaboration and development of the FinTech sector here. We look forward to returning to the region soon.”