Welsh Fintech Community Celebrated at Fintech Awards Wales 2026

The Welsh fintech community came together at the Tramshed in Cardiff to celebrate another year of achievement as the winners of the Fintech Awards Wales 2026 were revealed.

Held at a sold-out ceremony and headline sponsored by Confused.com, the awards recognised the individuals, businesses and academic institutions contributing to innovation and excellence across Wales’ FinTech sector.

From emerging talent and apprentices to start-ups, scale-ups and established businesses, the evening showcased achievements from across the Welsh fintech ecosystem.

FinTech Wales was particularly delighted to see so many members of our community among this year’s winners and highly commended finalists, with members recognised across leadership, emerging talent, apprenticeships, start-ups, scale-ups, AI, fintech for good, advisory services, product innovation and academic programmes supporting the sector.

Final Rentals celebrates two individual wins

Final Rentals enjoyed a standout evening, with founder Ammar Akhtar named FinTech Leader of the Year and Commercial Director Ricky Gamble crowned Rising FinTech Star of the Year.

Reflecting on his award, Gamble was quick to credit the wider Final Rentals team and the culture Akhtar has built within the business.

Gamble said:

“It’s a strange feeling accepting an individual award for something that’s never been an individual effort. Everything we’ve achieved comes off the back of such an outstanding team and the vision and culture Ammar Akhtar has built at Final Rentals that actually lets people take risks and back their ideas.”

Gamble also congratulated Akhtar on being named FinTech Leader of the Year, describing it as a “thoroughly deserved” recognition and a proud moment for the team.

de Novo Solutions founder Mark Sweeny, who presented the FinTech Leader of the Year award to Akhtar, also highlighted Akhtar’s commitment to promoting Wales as a place to do business.

Sweeny said:

“It was truly a wonderful moment to be able to pass this award on to a most deserving leader who champions Wales as a place to do business as much as I do.”

Confused.com’s Sally Tuhami was also recognised in the FinTech Leader of the Year category, receiving Highly Commended.

Double success for de Novo Solutions

de Novo Solutions celebrated two awards on the night, winning FinTech Scale-Up of the Year while Marina Parry-Jones was named Apprenticeship of the Year.

According to de Novo Solutions, Marina has grown in confidence since joining its apprenticeship programme and has become a key part of the company’s AI Enablement project team.

Marina was shortlisted alongside fellow de Novo apprentice Zara Baig, with members of the team attending the ceremony to support both finalists.

Her success also marks consecutive Apprenticeship of the Year wins for de Novo Solutions, following Brogan Williams’ win last year.

Reflecting on the wider evening, de Novo Solutions founder Mark Sweeny said the event demonstrated “why the Fintech community in Wales punches above its weight”, adding that he loved seeing the community come together.

Valart named FinTech Start-Up of the Year

Valart was named FinTech Start-Up of the Year, marking a significant milestone for the business and its founder and CEO, Elliot Riley-Walsh.

Reflecting on the achievement, Riley-Walsh shared how Valart began as an idea on a laptop in Anglesey two years ago.

The business has developed an all-in-one platform for collectors to catalogue, value and insure their collections.

Following the win, Riley-Walsh said:

“You don’t need to be in London. You don’t need to be in Silicon Valley. You don’t need a warm intro from someone’s uncle. You just need to build something people actually want, and back yourself when nobody else does.”

He described the award as a milestone rather than the destination for Valart as the business continues its journey.

IE Hub named FinTech Company of the Year

IE Hub was named FinTech Company of the Year, adding another major success for the FinTech Wales community at this year’s awards.

Following the win, IE Hub Chief Commercial Officer Gareth Llewelyn highlighted the company’s ambition to make life easier for people experiencing financial difficulty and credited the wider team for its work towards that goal.

Llewelyn said:

“We’ve got a simple ambition at IE Hub – to make people’s lives just a little bit easier when they’re dealing with financial difficulty.”

He added that it was great to see the work of the whole IE Hub team recognised through the FinTech Company of the Year award.

Small Print Compare wins New Product of the Year

FinTech Wales member Small Print Compare was named New Product of the Year, recognising its work to make insurance clearer and easier for customers to understand.

Small Print Compare describes itself as a consumer champion brand with a simple purpose: helping make insurance clearer and easier to understand.

For customers, the business aims to provide greater transparency and confidence when choosing a policy, helping people understand the protection they are buying and where exclusions and limitations apply.

For insurers, Small Print Compare aims to help businesses communicate their products more clearly, demonstrate the value of their cover and build greater trust with customers.

Reflecting on the award, Small Print Compare said:

“Winning Product of the Year is a fantastic milestone for Small Print Compare, but we see it as recognition of something much bigger: the need to make insurance simpler, clearer and more transparent for everyone.”

More success for FinTech Wales members

The recognition for FinTech Wales members continued across several other categories.

Menna Ltd was named Best Use of AI, while Bipsync was Highly Commended in both the Best Use of AI and Best Place to Work categories.

Proveit took home the FinTech for Good of the Year award, while HCR Law was named Best Advisory of the Year.

FinTech Wales was particularly pleased to see HCR Law recognised, with Nicola McNeely a valued and active member of the Welsh fintech community.

Driverly received Highly Commended in the Team of the Year category, while Admiral’s Data & AI Academy won Best Academic Programme Supporting FinTech / FS Companies.

It was fantastic to see FinTech Wales members recognised across such a broad range of categories, alongside the many other businesses, individuals and organisations contributing to the strength of the fintech community here in Wales.

Celebrating Welsh fintech

The winners were selected following two days of in-depth, in-person judging on 7 and 8 July, when finalists presented to a panel of industry leaders and experts chaired by Louise Brett.

Matthew Hyde, Founder of Fintech Awards Wales, said:

“What a night. Every one of this year’s winners has earned their place through real innovation, ambition and hard graft, and it was a privilege to celebrate them alongside the whole Welsh FinTech community at the Tramshed. From first-time founders to established names scaling at pace, the quality of this year’s entries shows just how far Welsh FinTech has come – and how much further it can go. Huge congratulations to all of our winners and highly commended finalists.”

Louise Brett, Chair of the Judging Panel for Fintech Awards Wales, added:

“This year’s winners demonstrate exactly why the UK remains one of the world’s leading fintech ecosystems – harnessing technologies such as AI, open banking and digital innovation to solve real-world challenges, drive growth and improve customer outcomes. With the UK’s renewed focus on regional fintech growth and competitiveness, it is increasingly clear that regional fintech hubs like Wales are playing a critical role in shaping the future of financial services across the UK. Meeting the finalists over two days of judging was a real privilege, and the winners should be enormously proud.”

Steve Dukes, CEO of Confused.com and Headline Sponsor of the Fintech Awards Wales 2026, said:

“It’s energising to see so many businesses adopting a challenger mindset – refusing to accept the status quo and pushing themselves and their industries to bring talent and innovation to the fintech ecosystem. These awards highlight the incredible achievements and momentum we’re building and we’re delighted to support Welsh Fintech.”

The ceremony brought together industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs and key stakeholders from across the Welsh financial services and technology community to celebrate the sector’s achievements.

FinTech Wales congratulates every winner, highly commended finalist and nominee at the Fintech Awards Wales 2026. A special congratulations goes to the FinTech Wales members recognised on the night, whose achievements form part of a much wider story of talent, innovation and ambition across the Welsh fintech community.