Cooper Parry Leads Collaboration to Empower Early-Stage FinTech Founders and CEOs

VentureCEO has officially launched its ‘Future of Money’ cohort programme, designed specifically for early-stage CEOs – at no cost – by Cooper Parry’s Tech & High Growth team – the leading UK startup and scaleup advisor in the accounting and tax space.

The VentureCEO programme officially launched earlier this year, debuting with its ‘Future of Health’ cohort. This second instalment, ‘Future of Money’, marks the first-ever programme that focuses on the FinTech sector, which currently has 76,500 people across the UK working in the industry, with this set to grow by 105,500 by 2030.

The cohort will see 15 FinTech CEOs across the UK participating. These are Fena, ZipZero, Mast, RQ, Sprive, EverUp, Profit.com, Plend, Doshi, Vega Investments, BibiMoney, Kaldi, Tred, Lightning Reach and Everything.

The 10-week cohort provides a series of initiatives to help the selected early-stage CEOs get unique insights and support from later-stage FinTech CEOs and advisors who have been through significant scaling and fundraising events themselves, whilst also creating a powerful peer group. The collaboration will foster impactful and beneficial connections and drive growth during their time with the cohort.

Steve Leith, spokesperson for VentureCEO and Partner and Head of Tech & High Growth at Cooper Parry, comments on the aim behind the initiative:

“The UK has a globally recognised reputation for incubating and building world-leading FinTech brands, with British FinTechs having raised £1.4bn in the first quarter of 2024. Cooper Parry is dedicated to curating the amazing network of founders and advisors in this country who can positively impact the next wave of FinTech innovators.

“With the economy continuing to prove a tougher climate than in previous years, we have designed the ‘Future of Money’ programme to deliver early-stage founders with valuable and actionable guidance from some of the best in the industry. We are extremely fortunate to have the commitment of  our amazing partners, together with experienced later-stage FinTech CEOs, who will facilitate connections, learning and community building to help fuel growth.”

The programme has several influential commercial supporters, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Mischon De Reya, and Capsule Insurance. In addition, fundraising advice and counsel will be given by Balderton Capital and AlbionVC, who both continue their support for the VentureCEO cohorts, alongside a dynamic array of sector-specific experts including CharlieHR, Luminous PR and Alex Arnot – one of the most prolific Board and Founder Advisors in the UK.. Each brings a unique set of resources and expertise to further enrich the experience for participating CEOs.

The later-stage FinTech CEOs involved include Tim Chong, CEO of Yonder,  David Jarvis, Founder of Griffin, Martina King at FeatureSpace, and Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank – between them, they have raised over $750m

Tim Chong, Yonder’s CEO and co-founder said: “The UK is undoubtedly one of the best places in the world to launch a FinTech startup, but the current climate has made survival tougher than ever. Advice and guidance from later-stage CEOs and industry experts were invaluable in helping me navigate the first few months of Yonder, so it was a no-brainer to join VentureCEO’s programme as a way to offer the same support to other new founders.”

Alongside addressing the needs of a rapidly scaling business, the programme will also prioritise personal well-being; MotivatePT will be rolling out group online fitness sessions, building community and encouraging participants to make time for movement to power up the mind-body connection.

Cat McDonald, Investment Director at AlbionVC concludes: “Despite the recent slowdown in UK FinTech funding, we remain optimistic about the opportunities in this sector and impressed by the quality of founders and startups in the UK ecosystem. I’m delighted to have been invited to support this great group of ambitious founders in the next VentureCEO cohort”.

Over the 10-week VentureCEO Future of Money programme, the CEOs and Founders in the cohort will benefit from:

• A curated peer group of CEOs at the same stage and in the same sector.
• Access to later-stage CEOs and their valuable insights.
• Laser-focused content designed specifically to enable highly relevant support to founders on both their personal and scaling journeys.
• Immediate commitment of support from best-in-class experts across legal, accounting, tax, HR, PR, digital marketing, growth and fundraising strategy, founder finance, founder wellbeing and more.
• The opportunity to connect with vertical-specific domain experts and investors.