A Political Peek at the Foundry’s First Cohort
28 June, 2021
The FinTech Wales Foundry officially started proceedings last week during a private pitching session with the companies invited to join Wales’ first FinTech accelerator.
Announced at UK FinTech Week in April 2021, the FinTech Wales Foundry is a non profit collaboration with Admiral Pioneer, Principality Building Society, Cardiff Capital Region and almost 30 supporting organisations in a bid to drive deals, jobs and investment in the sector.
The 8 companies selected for the inaugural, no equity programme were chosen from over 150 applicants from 28 countries during a series of interviews with Foundry partners in June. They are Sero, Voltric, Ship Shape, Viaduct, Zing Cover, Wagonex, Laytrip and Yimba.
The closed door event at Tramshed Tech was attended by Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen MP, who praised the pitches from the cohort, saying “It’s great that this new accelerator will now give Cardiff’s promising fintech hub an extra boost and help to bring a bit more Silicon Valley to the Welsh Valleys.”
As part of the event, Business News Wales also recorded a special 30 minute podcast with the founding partners of the FinTech Wales Foundry – Admiral Pioneer, Principality Building Society, and Cardiff Capital Region – who shared their hopes and vision for the inaugural accelerator programme:
The accelerator is scheduled to start on July 5th and last for 12 weeks where the cohort will undergo a crash course in facilitated investor introductions and value-added workshops in a bid to generate deals with Foundry partners.
In addition to mentorship from more than 50 business leaders across Wales and the UK, this year’s cohort can access over £500,000 in tangible business perks from supporting organisations such as AWS, Microsoft, and Google to name a few. Founders also receive a number of intangible perks such as office hours with Capital Law and access to an in-house CTO & CIO supplied by IBM.
More details on the Foundry and its first accelerator cohort will be revealed over the coming weeks and months ahead of the end of programme demo day in late September. For more information on the Foundry and the cohort visit the new and improved www.foundry.fintechwales.org.
