The FinTech Five – Delio, Senseforth AI, Penguin Portals, & More
09 April, 2021
Welcome to this week’s FinTech Five, where we take a closer look at the best articles, news, and features from our FinTech Wales members.
This week we saw Wealthify celebrating its fifth birthday, Senseforth AI making massive strides in India, Currencycloud announcing a groundbreaking partnership with a payment pioneer, Penguin Portals revealing a substantial rise in profits, and Delio’s selection for a prestigious New York accelerator program.
1. Wealthify celebrates its fifth birthday!
First this week, we send a big congratulations to Wealthify on their fifth birthday. To celebrate, Wealthify has taken a look back over the past five years and the key events that have shaped their success.
Wealthify’s reflective series of articles includes a 5-year performance analysis of Wealthifys original investment plans and where they stand now, along with a timeline of the significant global events that have shaped investments from Brexit to Bitcoin.
There’s also a thoughtful interview from inspirational founder Michelle Pearce-Burke who reveals her proudest moment, gives her advice to the next generation of entrepreneurs, and tells us where she sees Wealthify in the next five years.
You can read all of Wealthify’s birthday articles here.
Wealthify is five – happy birthday to us!
5 years of being an entrepreneur – Q&A with Michelle Pearce-Burke
2016-2021: 5 years in the markets
2. Sensforth AI wins contract to provide voice assistant service to millions
Next, we have a major success story from Cardiff based Senseforth AI, whose sister company in India have secured a mammoth contract to provide voice-based commands on the Indian government’s master app platform Umang.
After the Indian government earlier this year floated the tender for a voice assistant service in the vein of Apple’s Siri or Google Assistant, Senseforth AI successfully saw off competition to win a contract that will see them reach millions of users across over 100 services with their cutting edge conversational AI technology.
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Senseforth AI’s UK, Europe and Africa partner, and FinTech Wales member, Cardiff Bay-based Errol Finkelstein commented, “I attribute our success to the team’s consistent ability to solve complex problems on a large scale, as has been proven over several years with some of the world’s biggest banks and insurers.”
Adding, “I’m incredibly proud that Senseforth AI will have the opportunity to utilise its intelligent technology for the benefit of communities across India and there are already plans for a similar rollout of Senseforth AI’s intelligent services in a major Western nation too, which we anticipate going live in June this year.”
News of Senseforth AI’s success in India is another excellent example of tech companies with Welsh locations playing a significant role on the world stage.
3. Settle to enable cross-border payments & FX with Currencycloud partnership
Europen payments pioneer Settle group have partnered with Welsh-based FinTech Currencycloud to add foreign exchange and enable cross- border payments for customers across Europe.
The groundbreaking partnership has enabled mobile payment service Settle to move into markets previously inaccessible, sighting the collaboration as instrumental in Settle’s recent launch in Bulgaria.
This joint effort is particularly noteworthy as it the first time the European payment FinTech, Settle, has worked with a third party to deliver solutions for its customers, which is a testament to the innovation and expertise of the Currencycloud team.
Steve Lemon, Vice President Strategic Partnerships & Co-founder of Currencycloud, commented: “Our purpose at Currencycloud is to re-imagine the way money flows to create a better tomorrow for all. Our partnership with Settle does exactly that for both businesses and consumers, and we’re looking forward to growing the partnership moving forward.”
Read more about this powerful collaboration on the Currencycloud website here.
4. Penguin Portals’ comparison profits rise by 52%
The comparison platform provider, Penguin Portals, which includes Confused.com, LeLynx.fr and Restreator, has reported growth of 52% with a profit of 23.9m in its first year since a corporate restructure brought together its portfolio of comparison sites under the Penguin Portals Network umbrella.
The recent success has been attributed to the advantages of scale that restructuring has offered, along with the benefits of key centres of excellence at Confused.com in Cardiff and Admiral Services in Dehli both driving collaboration and innovation throughout the network.
Elena Betes, CEO of Penguin Portals, said:
“Bringing the comparison platforms closer together under Penguin Portals has helped us to deliver strong results over the past year. Each platform has numerous success stories to tell. When they share the detail of these stories with the wider colony, they learn something they can take back to build on their own success.”
Read the full press release detailing the rise of the Welsh FinTech here.
5. Delio selected to participate in FinTech Innovation Lab New York
Finally, we have fantastic news from Cardiff Based Delio, who have been selected as one of ten companies invited to take part in this year’s FinTech Innovation Lab in New York.
Launched in 2010, the FinTech Innovation Lab, Co-founded by the Partnership Fund for New York City and consulting giant Accenture, has placed early-to-growth-stage tech companies with high potential, through its accelerator program with great success.
Delio was selected from among 200 applicants by the Lab’s 44 participating financial firms and will join this year’s cohort of companies in the renowned 12-week programme.
With past alumni raising over $1.4bn in investment and creating over 1,200 jobs across the United States, Delios’ inclusion in the program represents a fantastic opportunity for the Welsh FinTech to grow stateside.
Gareth Lewis, Delio’s co-founder and chief executive, had this to say on the announcement, “We are honoured to be part of this year’s FinTech Innovation Lab New York. The opportunity to join a select group of FinTechs and work in close partnership with these prestigious financial institutions is testimony to Delio’s growing reputation in the sector. The insight we will be able to gain from the programme’s mentors will play a pivotal role in shaping our expansion across North America.”
You can read more about Delio’s American adventure here.
Until Next Week
And that’s it for the FinTech Five this week. Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to join us next week for more of the best content from across our FinTech Wales membership.