Empowering the Next Gen of Fintech founders

The financial sector is changing. There is less wiggle room when it comes to product launches, money is tighter, and the expectations around profitability are increasing. Now, more than ever, Fintech startups need support and cooperation, which is why we are launching the Fintech Foundation incubator programme.

To help us support the initiative, we have partnered with the biggest and best names in finance. Currencycloud, a leading cross-border services provider, is one of our partners.

We spoke to David Reiss, Director, Strategic Partnerships, at Currencycloud, about why they are supporting the Fintech Foundation incubator and the importance of cooperation in our industry.

Support is key in finance

"Partnerships are core to the DNA of fintechs," says Reiss.

By entering into partnerships with other organisations in the finance space, companies can focus on the customer's needs, instead of having to rebuild all of the required technology stacks.

Now, more than ever, support through partnerships is crucial in taking a product to market.

According to Reiss, "You have less room for manoeuvring, and you’re flying closer to the ground. You want to fail fast or avoid failing at all."

Due to current market conditions, the expectation around the profitability of startups is growing. Scaling your business and keeping your ledger in the black can be difficult without the help of others.

"That means having people you can rely on and the ability to leverage the experiences of others to de-risk yourself. This creates more resilience in terms of taking your business to market as it’s really rough right now."

"I think it’s important that elements of the Fintech community work closely together to help other businesses get to market."

Collaborating with Integrated Finance and the incubator

We are proud to have Currencycloud as a partner for the Fintech Foundation incubator programme. The company brings with it a wide range of expertise and knowledge for fintechs.

"The great thing is that we’ve worked with Integrated Finance for many years across a wide-range of projects. We have these patterns of working together," says Reiss.

"There's been a great cultural alignment between the businesses – we get on with each other and we value the work that each company brings to the table. Together, we are greater than the sum of our parts and that adds real value for our clients.”

This type of collaboration is exactly what we want to teach the cohorts in the Fintech Foundation incubator programme. It's also why we will allow them full access to our technology stack – they can rest on our expertise without having to reinvent the wheel.

"The tech we build together is understood by both of us and we know exactly what we can do. That might not be obvious, but I think it will have a big impact."

Big minds and big ideas

The incubator will also be an event where startup founders and experts can collaborate on bringing innovation to the financial sector.

"I think we're most excited about the intellectual curiosity of making stuff work. We really want to help make things work, and that's what's great about this programme.”

"There's so much innovation, so many great brains coming together and forming new ideas to make things happen."

We can't wait to kick off the Fintech Foundation incubator programme. Thank you to David Reiss for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm with us.

This is a fraction of the advice and experience David will share during the programme.

Are you an early-stage Fintech startup looking to access cross-border services among other core banking capabilities to get your fintech off the ground? Book a live demo with out team today.