Vica Manos

Starling Bank's SaaS platform Engine could generate hundreds of millions of pounds a year for the UK digital bank, propelling it towards a £10 billion valuation, predicts investor Chrysalis. Engine is an API-based, cloud native platform initially built by Starling’s own in-house tech team to run the UK bank. In 2022, Starling began offering Engine to other lenders, promising to help them quickly launch new digital services or to replace legacy systems. The platform has so far only secured two clients, Salt Bank in Romania and AMP Bank in Australia. However, Starling's second largest shareholder, investment trust Chrysalis, is expecting Engine to become a significant source of revenue. The core banking transformation market is heating up. Starling is not the only bank spinning off its technology. It joins other dedicated vendors such as Mambu and Thought Machine as small and medium banks undergo rapid transformation programs. #digital #corebanking #transformation

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Exit economics. Hot on the heels of Darktrace, another Cambridge innovator finds an exit for its investors via the US. With average European exit valuations below €50m this is a great deal for investors and for the IP - that will find a home within an industry heavyweight. #fromzerotoone #IPexiteconomics

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News that Graphcore will finally be acquired by Softbank has made the news, with a national security review as the final hurdle. I somewhat suspect this is also to delay the announcement until after the UK General Election. Despite the Conservative celebrations of the UK being World Leading at AI, we're literally selling away our best AI opportunities at knockdown prices because the UK government has not been able to procure emerging technology. Graphcore's main challenge has been over scaling and winning a first big customer in a very competitive market (i.e. traction). In terms of AI compute, this will be with the (mostly) US technology companies or Western governments. Selling to foreign corporates/governments will always be hard as a first big customer and an emerging company's products will always be slightly behind incumbents (such as NVIDIA). This is why a UK government buyer is somewhat of an important step, or "Buyer of First Resort" as per Hague/Blair. Where could Graphcore have been in 5, 10 or 20 years? Sadly, the Tories went missing on this one. Graphcore will be Japanese owned. We won't be exporting and most likely we'll be importing. These types of examples tend to not make the news but are very important drivers as to whether we will be a rich and sustainable economy in the future or continue to have wider deficits and higher taxes or be poorer as a nation. One hopes that The Labour Party will deliver a better Industrial Strategy from Friday. I expect there is little they can do with Graphcore as time's up for them due to losses and capital constraints. https://lnkd.in/eZsqJS8N Bill Esterson Peter Kyle

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I was lucky enough to do something at LONDON TECH WEEK 2024 this week, and a few minutes before going onto the stage with thousands of folks in the crowd, I realized how completely and totally unworried I was about doing it. It was a little odd to be aware of it. When did that happen? I remember being scared going into a boardroom to present to Shaun Meadows when he was running Aviva - at the time, my heart rate was high, my deodorant was strained to its limits, and my voice was wobbly... But... yesterday... nothing. There was no change in the pattern of my pulse, just the feeling that it would be a fun thing to do and a good conversation. If you are getting into speaking gigs, then the best advice I can give you is to practice. Practice makes perfect at anything, and speaking and finding your own voice is critical to making sure you are providing a unique and interesting point of view rather than just conveying the information. I, and 11:FS for that matter, always aim to be: 👉🏽 Provocative - Have something to say - don't parrot the views of others. 👉🏽 Authoritative - Speak about things you know about... don't the others - simple! 👉🏽 Human - Talk like a human... no acronyms or words that need further explaining. These things have allowed me to have cut through, whether it's a conversation between two folks in a coffee shop or two folks on the main stage at a super cool event. Knowing what you stand for and what to be shaped around allows you to find your own voice and help other people find theirs, and ultimately, your own voice brings you confidence beyond your dreams.

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AI Tech in Focus   Brain Scans and AI Used to Detect Dementia Nine Years Before Conventional Diagnosis Researchers at Queen Mary University in London used machine learning to assess cognitive communication between 10 areas of the brain that have been shown to be vulnerable to dementia. The study involving 1,100 people found that using AI analysis of the MRI brain scans of these neural networks accurately predicted about 80% of cases of dementia nine years before a formal diagnosis was actually made. Further, the AI technology was able to predict within two years exactly how long it would take before the onset. The test takes 10 minutes. Dementia is caused by certain proteins in the brain, but patients can live for years with those proteins and show no signs of dementia. Current methods used to detect dementia involve memory tests and measurements of brain shrinkage. It’s hoped that the early detection using the AI trained scans will help identify people who are going to develop dementia and benefit from early treatments. VC Investors are always adjusting their "Play Book" with a variety of options for investing. Mikal Ventures is one of those alternatives, offering curated solutions to real world problems. Reach out if you have questions on how we can be of assistance and bookmark https://mikalventures.com/ for additional insights and information.

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Well done everyone involved! Qureight is a great investment and looking forward to seeing their growth! Echoing Joe - more announcements coming soon from Guinness Ventures so watch this space! 👀 #venturecapital #eis #vct #healthtech #investment #fundraising

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📖 Weekend Reading 📖 1️⃣ Simon Taylor recently started a new podcast where he interviews fintech founders. The first trio is now out, highlighting the founders of Ramp (Eric Glyman), Brex (Pedro Franceschi), and Arc (Don Muir). I learned something new from each, and I feel like I have a better sense now of where they seek to differentiate. (sharing the first here) https://lnkd.in/dF__4imY One of the things Ramp and Brex have become particularly well known for is of course spend management. And conveniently, Alex Johnson has a great overview of the category. https://lnkd.in/dswwC7nY Bonus: Simon also wrote about the complexities of ledger reconciliations, worth a read if you’re following the Synapse debacle. https://lnkd.in/dAwz2WGj 2️⃣ Alex Telford has a long piece on the origins of the lab mouse. Definitely new territory for me, but a very interesting example of random contingencies and path dependence leading to outsized impact on how we do research in medicine today. It would never have occurred to me to even question the use of mice, and a particular species of mice at that, for medical research—but once you start asking these (very valid) questions, you start to wonder how pervasive this is across the scientific process. https://lnkd.in/dmxPt6Sh 3️⃣ Thanks to Byrne Hobart, CFA I’ve discovered Bret Devereaux’s writing, and this time it’s a fantastic two-part series on Alexander the Great, exploring the question of his “greatness.” This is a real treasure trove, and Bret goes into quite a bit of detail, first on the sources we have available (which I really enjoyed, and wish others would emulate), then on his track record as a general, king, and man. As is often the case, it’s a nuanced picture.   Part 1: https://lnkd.in/dF7ZjKiw 4️⃣ Finally, Li Jin wrote a thoughtful piece on the limitations of the systems that marketplaces are built on, and crypto’s potential to enable new types of marketplaces to emerge. I like this framework of scaling (via token incentives), portable (and immutable) reputation, and payments as key crypto pillars for marketplaces. In practice, there are still significant barriers with regards to the first 2 (lack of regulatory clarity around tokens, incumbents simply not wanting to make data portable, and KYC/AML regulations). Payments, however, is ripe for disruption, and that’s exactly why we’re focusing on global marketplace payments at Walapay. https://lnkd.in/d2UF_Djc #fintech #ledger #baas #spendmanagement #ramp #brex #synapse #marketplace #crypto #alexanderthegreat #payments

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🏦 This news has been a long time coming. We've been working hard to expand Ryft's partnerships to banks and financial institutions and our partnership with Clearhaus is a big step towards that. Our partners are now able to compete with the likes of Stripe Connect and Adyen for Marketplaces without the huge up front investments. By leveraging Ryft's infrastructure, they can empower their digital platforms to transition from #SAAS to #fintechs. We are proud to be working with Clearhaus, one of Europe's best acquiring banks. If you want to find out more, ping me or one of the team a message! #fintech #embeddedpayments #marketplaces

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Did neobanks "fail"? My reaction to the title was "Bullshit!", but the article turned out to fairly balanced (well done, Akila Quinio). I still wouldn't call it a "failure" (but then some don't consider Brexit a failure either :) as the closing paragraph says it all: “Arguably, their only lasting impact is pushing big banks to improve their own digital platforms.” Fintech did disrupt the status quo, and did lead the innovation (still does). Scale is a different matter, and there are tons of elements at play there, not least the culture - the article covered that well, and Brazil's Nu set the benchmark. But the incumbents did catch up... In a nutshell, as the saying goes - there are no neobanks, just banks. All banks offer the same set of banking products (some neobanks now offer even such esoteric products as... eSIMs 🙄), chasing the same customer base, relying on the same small set of revenue streams. There very little money in payments. Unless you have the scale of Visa, charging pennies will not take to the big league. Making money on the credit side requires a licence, and is a completely different ballgame (of trust). Crypto is not gonna last forever. An alternative is to go back to the roots and own a category. Like "THE fastest way on the planet to send money". 🤫😎🤘💥🚀 P.S. Shall we also talk about "Lehman Brothers" and multi-billion money laundering scandals side of "big banking"?.. #neobank #fintech #banking #M #CBDC #digitalcurrency #A2A #RTP

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Stripe Issuing is at 200m cards. Fiserv is 1.6bn, Global Payments has 800m. That makes Stripe a MAJOR issuer processor. They also doubled the cards issued in the last 12 months. There's a view in the market that the payments companies aren't doing that well in embedded finance. This would suggest that's not true. This nugget isn't widely discussed in 1. Payments. We talk about Marqeta and Galileo but not Stripe or Adyen. 2. Banking as a Service. The talk is all about Synapse, Evolve and then Lithic etc as modern issuer processors. 3. Tech. We still see Stripe as the acquirer / PSP but the jury was out on the ability to do more. I'd hear lots of rumors that "Stripe's embedded finance isn't going so well" but no hard data. Open to contrary opinions. William Gaybrick (Source: Stripe, GPN Q1 results)

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What llya did next. Now this is very interesting. We knew that Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's former Chief Scientist, was going to do something special after departing OpenAI in May. He hinted as much when he was on his way out the door. 📣 Now we know what it is: it's Safe Superintelligence Inc. When the history of company names is written, I think we are definitely putting this one in the chapter called 'does what it says on the tin'. But's that's a good thing. In a world full of threatening, opaque black boxes, hidden, mysterious training sets, and cloak-and-dagger boardroom shenanigans, a little bit more transparency and simplicity is what's needed. It's superintelligence, but it's also safe. I'm interested already. A very brief history of Sutskever, OpenAI and how we got here: 🔶 2015: Sutsvever leaves Google and co-founds OpenAI, becoming its chief scientist, and ultimately plays a key role in the development of ChatGPT. 🔶 2023: He becomes the co-lead of OpenAI's Super-alignment project, an initiative to balance safety concerns with the power that AI superintelligence would one day unleash. 🔶 November 2023: it's handbags at dawn 👜 in a particularly action-packed 60 hours, with Sutskever leading the sacking and rapid re-instatement of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI. Safety concerns was one of the major fracture points. Risky move Ilya! No one dethrones the king 👑 and sticks around for long. 🔶 December 2024: It's an early Christmas present 🎁 , everyone's back at work at OpenAI and smiling again 😀 (at least on the outside), but on the inside they are like this 🤢. 🔶 May 2024, Sutskever announces he's done with OpenAI but will be back with “a project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time”. 🔶 19 June 2024, Safe Superintelligence Inc 🧠 is announced to the public. What is Safe Superintelligence Inc then? “SSI is our mission, our name, and our entire product roadmap, because it is our sole focus. Our team, investors, and business model are all aligned to achieve SSI. We approach safety and capabilities in tandem, as technical problems to be solved through revolutionary engineering and scientific breakthroughs.” “We plan to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead. This way, we can scale in peace. Our singular focus means no distraction by management overhead or product cycles, and our business model means safety, security, and progress are all insulated from short-term commercial pressures.” All sounds great to me. I can't wait to see how this one plays out. To me Sutskever is the real deal. I'm like this:👍

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Important update on the NPA -#payments. Worth following Mike Chambers if you are not already.

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We don't spend enough time thanking the teams that enable the engine to run under the hood. Thanks Kasun De Silva & team for the great work and interesting article for anyone that wants to know more about what happens behind the curtains of hedge funds, venture debt funds and Bootstrap Europe!

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My son pointed out the ability to use a well-known BNPL provider for a deliveroo delivery, which perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised by and whilst the access to credit can be seen as a valuable service the ease of increasing the debt burden is perhaps less welcomed; and the financial education of the implications is less well taught! As per the following article https://lnkd.in/e_M6v8-g It is the youngest that are most likely to fall into debt with a loan shark (13% of under 35's report they have borrowed from an illegal lender). I'm not saying that BNPL is driving this alone and the cost of living to improve their financial situation is a larger factor, but as per the below the potential escalation of debt is driving people to take out loans with illegal lenders due to the lack of available and affordable credit options. https://lnkd.in/e3diAeM2

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Hey Product fans! 👋 This week’s 🌮 Product Tapas is served. It’s been a week of change; a big political switchero in the UK, crypto markets pivoting to down only and a week off for me 🏖️. But Product never sleeps, so let’s see what’s cooking this week shall we? 🧑‍🍳 📰 Not Boring - As ever, this week’s news is jam-packed. Spotify is testing emergency alerts, Figma pulls its AI tool after criticism, and the mashup app noplace (Twitter meets Myspace) hits No. 1 on the App Store. Apple is gearing up for AirPods with cameras and exploring AI features for the Vision Pro. OpenAI introduces CriticGPT to identify ChatGPT’s mistakes and showcases GPT-4’s voice mode for language teaching. Rip Dulingo? Google adds 100 new languages to Google Translate (RIP even learning a language?), and Meta’s in trouble with EU competition rules again. Plus, SpaceX will attempt the first commercial spacewalk, scientists create robot controlled by blob of human brain cells. And much more! ⌚ Time-Saving Tools & GPTs - This week, we’ve got Nylas for integrating email, calendar, and contacts, Question Base for automating Slack responses, Briefy for summarising lengthy content, and Firebender for finding early adopters and leads. Also, check out Superhuman AI’s database of over 100 AI productivity tools 🔥 🍔 Blog Bites - Essential reads for product teams include a deep dive into why Craigslist, despite its 90s look, remains a household name and immensely profitable. We also explore best practices for implementing dark mode and practical advice for product management in companies where the role is least understood. Finally, a UX breakdown of why users might be ignoring your features, with insights from Monzo’s premium banking product by our fave UX don Peter Ramsey. 🎙️ Pod Shots - This week, we dive into the "Instagramification" of product management, exploring two views from John Cutler and Dean Peters on Jason Knight's "One Knight in Product" podcast. It’s easy to get sucked into the doom-zone when your company doesn’t reflect the perfect textbook / LinkedIn world, so take a read of these two POVs and refresh your perspective. What a week! If you want to get the full lowdown (and see previous editions) check out the newsletter here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eyvnChmB And of course, go check out all the original contributors linked here for more great content! 🔥

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Accel, the Silicon Valley investor known for backing Monzo Bank, GoCardless, and Synthesia, has raised a $650 million European startup fund 💰 Andrei Brasoveanu, a Partner at Accel, commented on LinkedIn: “When we opened our office in London 24 years ago, Europe’s tech ecosystem was nascent and far from an obvious choice to build a team on the ground. It took another five years for the first unicorn to appear, but now the talent flywheel is spinning and so many fantastic companies have paved the way for the next generation of founders.” According to Dealroom.co, the European and Israeli VC market is now nearly half the size of the US market, with approximately $66 billion invested in 2023... 👇 Read more below 👇 #StartupsMagazine #Startups #Entrepreneur #VC #Funding #VCMarket

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A trip down memory lane 👴🏻. A couple months ago, Marcel van Oost posted a legendary video from TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2017 where the founders of Revolut, Monzo Bank and N26 – three direct competitors – shared a stage (moderated by Romain Dillet). I was in the audience that day and I highly recommend you watch the video of the panel. It is rare to witness the birth of a mega wave (consumer banking being moved to cloud and mobile). At the time, the three of them were roughly the same size, all sub 1m monthly active users.  Today? According to Data.ai Revolut has 27 million monthly active users, Monzo has 4m and N26 has 2m. So what can we learn from what happened post-2017? Revolut, Monzo and N26 all went on to raise roughly the same amount: between $1.6 and $1.8 billion. In fact, Monzo just announced it had raised an extra $190m on top of the $430m funding round it announced in early March, at a $5bn valuation, demonstrating its continuous success. But looking at their respective trajectories since that panel, it’s striking how different strategies from different entrepreneurs have had dramatically different outcomes years later. There will be business school case studies written about it, no doubt. Since Revolut is the one we invested in, I asked their VP of Growth Antoine Le Nel for his take on what led to their outsized success: 💰 They relentlessly focused on reaching profitability, which gave them the luxury to not have to choose between growth and profitability. Growth picked up in 2021, the year they first became profitable. 🎮 They applied systematic media buying techniques from the gaming world. Antoine actually came from King - further evidence that the startup ecosystem flywheel is starting to turn at full regime in Europe. 🌎 They treated their different geographies, channels and products like internal competitors. If any was overperforming, it got more growth support. In his own words: "The biggest competitor of Revolut France is not BoursoBank, it's Revolut Germany". 🏅 They leaned into market tailwinds for more chances to win. For example, Revolut’s breadth meant they were positioned to benefit from the crypto bull run and high net interest income. Their diversified product range and revenue streams mean they can benefit from most macro scenarios. 🥷 They built small teams that were highly scalable, highly quantitative and highly agile. And I’d add: 🌍 Strategically, going multi-product and multi-country from day 1 and having a strong bias for build vs buy, turned out to be a critical long-term advantage (I wrote about in a post last year, which I’ll share in the comments). 🤩 A delightful product and the killer value prop of free FX allowed for strong word of mouth growth in the early days, fueled by Chad West and his team’s brilliant guerilla marketing. Thank you, Marcel, for prompting this trip down memory lane. I’ll share the full TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin video below.

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We are making BIG moves in high quality technology through BIG business between UK and China in areas that are saving lives. Tell me any company in the UK that doesn’t want to take a quality drug from China, verify the results, make huge money and save millions of lives. It’s about showing real routes to success through real actions and that is what we are doing. OPPORTUNITIES FOR UK COMPANIES! We show what we can do for uk companies and then you can give me a call, we show the value not putting up a banner and a free cup of tea. That is not what excites me. 70 years of expirence in knowing how to make companies grow in China- as some would say- simple math! #the48group #uktrade #biotech #realnews #access #action #LEC #SirChrisEvans #funds Www.the48groupclub.com Www.lecglobalcapital.com Www.londonexportcorp.com

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