This is a guest post written for us by Richard Prime, CEO of Sonovate
It’s no secret that the UK fintech sector is booming. Last year, it generated just over £20 billion and in London alone boasts a workforce of over 44,000 – that’s more than both New York and San Francisco. It’s no wonder London is being dubbed the fintech capital of the world. With 8,500 start-ups operating across the UK in 2014 – a figure that’s only set to grow this year – here are some tips on what recruiters can do to take advantage of this flourishing sector:
Understand the market
Fintech – the term used for any technology applied to financial services, has become a fairly general one applied to all sorts of businesses that fall under the ‘fin’ and the ‘tech’ umbrella. To capitalise on this market, it’s important to first establish a real understanding of the micro sectors within it.
• Payments: the largest micro-sector, is dominated by big players such as Transferwise and Pingit. It’s divided into two segments: infrastructure and online. Combine them, and payments generated £10 billion in revenue last year.
• Financial software: headed up by big international tech companies, financial software generated £4.2 billion in revenue last year and covers a range of solutions including risk management, payments software, and asset management software.
• Financial and data analytics: these businesses collect data on individuals, companies and market activity. Data comprises of credit reference, capital markets, and insurance analytics.
• Platforms: this category includes peer-to-peer lending, trading and personal wealth businesses which generated £2 billion in the last year.
The new recruits
With such an interesting range of fintech businesses, it’s not only finance and technology candidates that recruiters will place. According to research by Adzuna, a typical fintech business consists of IT staff (41 percent), sales (27 percent), marketing (12 percent), accounting and finance (6 percent), with the remaining 14 percent made up of consultancy, creative and design, customer services, and admin staff. With the right knowledge of the market, fintech start-ups present a whole host of hiring opportunities that recruiters can’t afford to miss.
Network
The majority of fintech start-ups begin life as self-funded businesses looking for financial investment. According to research group CB Insights for London & Partners, in 2014 UK tech businesses received a record £1.4 billion in venture capital funding. This funding enables fintech businesses to develop technology and rapidly grow their businesses – all good news for recruiters.
To really benefit from this lucrative market, it is important recruiters begin to network with start-ups and understand their business plans from day one. By getting to know the business during the funding stages, your services as a recruiter will be front of mind when finance is secured and hires need to be made. You will also have a good grasp of what sort of candidates will be a good fit for the company.
There are lots of events held up and down the country, and throughout the year, which present great opportunities for recruiters looking to gain an understanding of the financial technology sector. The most notable in the London fintech calendar is Fintech Week, but if you can’t wait till September, just have a quick look online and you’ll soon have an event filled schedule.
Go social
Attending events isn’t the only way to network with fintech start-ups. Is there a fintech company that isn’t on Twitter? We don’t think so; they’ve been using it since day one. And it’s not just the companies themselves that are active online. There are a number of fintech news sources, publications, and event organisers on Twitter, that recruiters should be engaging with if they want to get their name out there and take advantage of the fintech boom.
As one of the fastest growing sectors worldwide, now’s the time to start getting involved in recruiting for the UK’s fintech scene. Venture capital investments in London alone rose from £114 million in 2013, to £343 million in 2014; and that’s set to rise again in 2015. Now is the time for recruitment agencies to take advantage of all things fintech.
