Chris Williamson

🌟 Major Funding Alert: Smart Grants UK Open for Applications! 🌟 UK innovators and organisations take note! The Smart Grants UK programme now accepts applications, offering a significant opportunity to secure funding for your most ambitious R&D projects. 🔬 What’s on Offer? Get a share of up to £25 million to support your game-changing innovations that can significantly impact the UK economy. This is your chance to transform your visionary ideas into commercial successes. 📅 Key Dates: Closing Date: 23 October 2024 🎯 Eligibility: Open to all UK registered organisations aiming to develop commercially viable R&D innovations. 💡 This funding is designed to accelerate the development of outstanding innovative ideas across any technology and industrial area. Whether you're in health, tech, engineering, or environmental sciences, Smart Grants UK can boost your project's potential. https://zurl.co/V2ll 👉 Don’t miss out on this opportunity to drive your innovation forward with substantial funding. Let’s push the boundaries of what’s possible! #UKInnovation #RnDFunding #SmartGrantsUK #TechnologyDevelopment #EconomicImpact Connect with us: https://zurl.co/tgQ9

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Lending to UK SMEs has declined significantly over the last decade, creating a £22 billion funding gap for small businesses. This month, the SME Finance Taskforce shared new ways in which high-quality data can be used to redress this issue, enabling SMEs to expand and receive funding that allows them to scale and thrive.   Jane Prokop, Executive Vice President of Small and Medium Enterprises at Mastercard, highlights how this could drive critical growth across the UK👇 Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/ekvN9mpS #SmartData #SMEFinance #UKFintech #CFIT 

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In the latest impact report from @Responsible Finance CDFIs lent a record £287m, filling gaps in finance for vulnerable households and viable businesses and social enterprises that are not able to access mainstream finance. CDFIs have grown from lending of £9.2m in 2003 to operating at 31 times this scale in 2023. Since 2003 CDFIs have lent a total of £3.3bn and supported 848,000 customers. You can find out more about CDFIs’ impact in the @Responsible Finance Impact Report: https://lnkd.in/eWSFydQ2 #RipplesToWaves #ResponsibleFinance #CDFIs

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There was a great feature in the FT this week on Zopa’s successful growth - https://lnkd.in/efcSCrVc - and I thought this would be a good moment to share more about my time there as a consultant recently.  What started out as a short project in January with the CSO and CEO of Zopa, I’m happy to say has turned into a 6-month stint across several areas covering vision, marketing and product-related topics, as the company readies itself for an IPO. I’ve met a great leader in Merve Arslan Ferrero and I've loved working with Clare Gambardella again from my Wolff Olins and Virgin Active days. Zopa started out in peer-to-peer lending in 2005, but relaunched as a fully-fledged digital bank in 2020, and they have been picking up momentum since then. They’ve just announced their first full year of profitability; have over 1+ million customers with a 30% customer growth rate; and a strong NPS record too. At 800 Zopians strong and +£220m revenue they are at a tipping point in their maturity, and I’ve been energised by the strategic challenges this throws up. It’s been great for me to learn about a new sector and adapt to a new organisation in a high-energy, pre-IPO moment. Fintech feels like a natural extension from proptech, given the useful role these brands play in people’s lives combined with the shared importance of data. With their new announcement of their upcoming current account launch, my focus is now shifting more to their new products, which should be a lot of fun.

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Technical Debt or technology debt as described here is the biggest blocker to innovation in retirement solutions. In order to interrogate your product or scheme data it's essential to be able to access and enhance scheme data. Open banking connections to educate and engage..wellbeing tools to personalise and inform.....all depend fully on the ability to integrate to scheme core data....in real time. Legacy books you almost expect to be on old tech....think green screens. I think there is more Technical Debt in front book is more common than you might think. Now what software options are truly going to future proof your scheme or products? Well that's another post !

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🚀 Exciting News from Cashflows! We've officially disbursed over £1M in Merchant Cash Advances to businesses across the UK with our funding partner, Recap! 🇬🇧💷 This milestone is more than just a number – it's a testament to our commitment to supporting SMEs in their growth journeys. Here's how our cash advances have made a difference: ✅ **Quick Access to Capital**: Businesses have leveraged our streamlined process to get funds fast, fuelling immediate growth opportunities without the wait. ✅ **Flexible Repayments**: With repayments tied to sales, our clients enjoy the flexibility to pay more when sales are high and less during slower periods. ✅ **Boost in Cash Flow**: Our advances have helped bridge cash flow gaps, allowing businesses to maintain operations and invest in inventory or marketing without disruption. ✅ **No Collateral Required**: Unlike traditional loans, our merchant cash advances don't require personal collateral, putting business owners at ease. We're proud to be part of the success stories of numerous entrepreneurs and look forward to empowering even more businesses. Here's to the next £1M! 🎉 #MerchantCashAdvance #BusinessGrowth #SMEs #Funding #cashflows

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