Finance

By Vitaly Golomb, Partner, Drake Star

Drake Star

For mobility startups, the last few years have been a roller coaster ride. In 2020 and 2021, after years of difficulties in raising capital, largely driven by the dynamics of stay-at-home investing during the pandemic, a long list of EV and autonomy companies raised billions of dollars through SPAC combination transactions. Then came a knee jerk reaction to depressed growth prospects thanks to the struggles of the global supply chain and over optimistic promises.

Now, with a global downturn looming and interest rates rising, things are looking ever more uncertain. Mobility startups spoiled with the feast of easy capital in the past several years, will be upset to learn that everything – from seed checks to M&A activity – is currently retracting to an old “normal.” According to PitchBook as of Q2 2022, the Mobility VC deal count is down 42.5% and total deal volume is down 57.3% from one year ago. Without a pragmatic plan for revenue many companies will run out of gas.

Blank Checks Gave Black Eyes

Even a few months ago, the market looked different. To be clear, our thesis is that mobility startups will explode in terms of growth in the next decade. In fact, the global mobility industry is expected to reach $823.75 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 18.2% between 2021 and 2030. Unfortunately, right now all startups, including those working on EV and autonomous driving, are caught up in the same downturn as the whole tech market. Of the mobility companies that went public this year through a SPAC merger, 68% are now trading at half their opening price of $10, four  have seen their shares fall 90% while  only four  have seen growth in their share price.  About 15 mobility companies this summer, including Bird, Embark and British EV maker Arrival have had their shares decline more than 90% in 11 months.

At the same time, as of July 2022, VC funding for mobility tech has also receded, with tech startups rising to about 43% of the total raised in Q1 2021; and in 2022, US IPOs are still struggling to shake off the slump from the global pandemic. What does the second half of the year hold for the mobility tech sector, how can these young and innovative companies successfully grow their product and market share, and what can this tell us about the market as a whole?

The problem, quite simply, is that many mobility companies aren’t booking revenue yet. You can have the best ideas in the world, the best team and talent, and 15 PhDs and patents on the wall but that won’t get you far in this new climate.

Market excitement goes up and down. Your goal as a startup founder in any environment is to ship product. Unfortunately, the last few years have allowed companies to coast and that has reset the expectations of what’s “normal.” If you are planning to raise money this year under the same terms as you did last year, you’re in for a rude awakening. The market has quickly receded to the old normal. Blitzscaling in mobility now means putting hardware and software on the road or in the air. It doesn’t mean fiddling with a non-commercial idea until, like the proverbial goose, out comes a product and customers.

Why is this happening? Quite simply because interest rates are up the cost of capital is much higher than we’ve been lulled into for the past several years. This means investors and corporate M&A teams will be biased towards revenue and profitability and away from the high-risk potential sometime over the horizon.

Let’s Book Revenue

A company I recently spoke with has progressively raised several hundred million dollars through multiple rounds with step-ups in valuation that made it a unicorn by sheer inertia. They have a large team, an interesting idea, and a few prototypes. And they also don’t have a customer and a clear timeline towards real scalable revenue. In the automotive world, it takes four to five years to get an innovative new component into cars coming off of the assembly line. This company, with its bloated valuation, recently went back to raise. The result? A substantial down round and plenty of internal hand-wringing. 

Hardware in general is hard. Getting products on the road is not fast. This mix makes it wildly difficult to even consider investing in a hardware startup at the idea stage let alone one whose customer lead times measure in the decades. The lesson? Don’t wait to start customer discussions until you have what you think is a perfect product. It takes years on both sides. 

Driving Into the Future

Since we haven’t had one in a while, it is worth repeating: with every downturn comes tremendous opportunity.  Every tech company seeking investment knows they have to excite investors with their ‘secret sauce:’ their unique value proposition, their engaged market, and their growth projections, but with rising interest rates, pressures on domestic spending, and whispers of recession there has to be a laser-focus on costs, high efficiency and planning for long drought in funding. Every investor will be focused on cash burn and how quickly recurring revenues can be built. The days of unprofitable growth at any cost are probably over for now. And don’t forget, this environment was normal for decades before the euphoria of the last decade.

If we stick to our automotive market example, there are lots of tailwinds. As fuel costs continue to grow so does the interest in electric vehicles; the focus on clean air and reduced carbon emissions is another driver that is expected to bring the global market value of the industry to over $489 million by 2025. A Drake Star survey showed that 59% of our professional network already owns an EV or plans to buy it as their next car. On the flip side, rising interest rates are likely to dampen consumer sentiment and big-ticket sales may be harder to achieve. Dozens of new EV models are expected to debut in North America and Europe by 2024, and a flood of new supply makes for a competitive environment. Industry commentators believe many new entrants will struggle with liquidity and fail to achieve success. Against this background, how do tech companies from Seed to Series B position their fundraising search for the best success?

For all stages of a company, the new normal will all be about the evidence – how can you show that your company is positioned to succeed and thrive as a revenue-generating business where others might fail? For start-ups at the seed stage, this means demonstrating a genuine differentiator, whether that’s tech, a unique business model, or a stellar team, which will solve a genuine problem in a way no other company can. The solution has to be rooted in deep knowledge of the market and the target customer. Any new tech must have a working demonstrator, or as close to one as possible, to remove some execution risk for investors. In the current capital climate, founders also need to demonstrate that the risk-adjusted valuation they are seeking is a good deal and a risk worth taking.

For companies in Series A, the track record to date and business strategy going forward will be heavily scrutinized. Key milestones in the product roadmap must be hit, the cash burn has to be reasonable for the company stage  and customers must be buying into the product. In the current climate, consistent revenue growth and modest spending to get there are essential. Investors will look for management teams that can be agile, respond quickly to market, tech or personnel changes and new opportunities as well as prepare for potential disruption. The future roadmap to Series B and beyond should be clear and credible and should include opportunistic M&A strategies – many companies with valuable component technologies will be enable to raise more capital and will be forced to sell themselves at firesale prices.

At Series B stage, the focus is on scale. Investors will be looking for a solid path to long-term profit. In tough economic times, investors often switch behavior to early in and early out, rather than staying for the long haul. This means some of your investors maybe looking for the exits while founders will have to double down on their commitment to the mission.

To end where we started, the overall transportation and mobility industry is going through the biggest transformation in a century. Passenger car sales increased by 186% in 2020 and EVs enjoyed a record year in 2021 against a transport market that was 28.7% below pre-pandemic levels. According to Experian’s car registration data, some 158,689 EV vehicles were registered in Q1 2022, which is 60% more than a year ago. One of the major sources of continued growth is likely to be in charging infrastructure and grid management – to accelerate the market consumers and commercial users will need confidence that they can charge their vehicles when and where they need to. It’s an exciting time for mobility tech; everyone can see the potential. Finding the companies that will weather the predicted economic downturn and become the household name of tomorrow, is an investor’s holy grail. But for now, across all tech sectors, a heads-down approach will be the one that wins.

By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Wednesday announced that it would transfer $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets into a new Swiss-based trust fund that will be shielded from the Taliban and used to help stabilize Afghanistan’s collapsed economy.

The Afghan Fund, managed by a board of trustees, could pay for critical imports like electricity, cover debt payments to international financial institutions, protecting Afghanistan’s eligibility for development aid, and fund the printing of new currency.

“The Afghan Fund will protect, preserve and make targeted disbursements of that $3.5 billion to help provide greater stability to the Afghan economy,” the U.S. Treasury said in a statement.

U.S. officials said no money would go to the Afghan central bank, known as DAB, until it is “free of political interference” – diplomatic parlance for replacing the bank’s top Taliban officials, two of whom are under U.S. and U.N. sanctions, with banking professionals – and anti-money laundering safeguards are instituted.

“Until these conditions are met, sending assets to DAB would place them at unacceptable risk and jeopardize them as a source of support for the Afghan people,” U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Ademeyo said in a letter to the central bank’s Supreme Council seen by Reuters.

The DAB said the central bank’s reserves belonged to the Afghan people and their purpose was to ensure currency stability, the strength of the financial system, and facilitating international trade.

“Any decision regarding the assignment, use or transfer of the reserves for unrelated goals is unacceptable to DAB,” a DAB statement said.

The new foundation is based in Geneva and has an account with the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which provides financial services to central banks.

“The BIS is establishing a customer relationship with the Fund for the Afghan People. The BIS role is limited to providing banking services to and executing the instructions of the Board of Trustees of the Fund without involvement in the Fund’s governance or decision making,” the BIS said, adding it would comply with all applicable sanctions and regulations.

The Swiss government said https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-90338.html it would support the foundation that it helped Washington set up by contributing finance and development expertise. It named foreign ministry official Alexandra Baumann as its board representative.

The fund will not resolve serious problems driving dire economic and humanitarian crises threatening to worsen as winter approaches. Nearly half of Afghanistan’s 40 million people face “acute hunger,” according to the United Nations.

The Taliban’s biggest fiscal challenge is developing new revenues to compensate for financial aid that provided up to 75% of government spending that the United States and other donors ended after the Islamists seized Kabul in August 2021 as the last American troops left, ending two decades of war.

“The economy of Afghanistan faces serious structural issues, exacerbated by the Taliban takeover,” a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters in a briefing about the new fund.

The crises also have been fueled by decades of war, drought, the COVID-19 pandemic, endemic corruption and a cutoff of the central bank from the international banking system.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the $3.5 billion has yet to be deposited into the new fund, but the transfer would take place “as soon as possible.”

Creation of the new trust fund comes after months of talks between U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, Switzerland, other parties and the Taliban, who demanded the return of $7 billion in Afghan central bank assets held in the United States.

The talks continued despite U.S. anger at the Taliban’s harboring of late al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri – killed on July 31 in a CIA drone strike on his Kabul safe house – and international outrage at the militants’ human rights crackdown, including barring girls from state-run secondary schools.

Biden in February sequestered “for the benefit of the Afghan people” the $3.5 billion in DAB assets to be transferred into the new trust fund.

The other $3.5 billion is being contested in lawsuits against the Taliban stemming from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Courts could decide to release that money, which could be deposited in the new trust fund.

Another approximately $2 billion in Afghan central bank assets held in European and Emirati banks also could end up in the fund.

The fund’s board also comprises U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Scott Miller, Anwar Ahady, a former Afghan central bank chief and former finance minister, and Shah Mehrabi, a U.S. academic who remains on the DAB Supreme Council.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Michael Shields in Zurich and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Editing by Will Dunham, William Maclean and Marguerita Choy)

FOUR years since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was implemented, statistics from RSM have revealed that 30% of European businesses are still not compliant – so is it time for further fresh legislation? 

With the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (Data Reform Bill) currently at the first stage in its passage through parliament, Ruby Ashby, associate and solicitor at Nelsons’ dispute resolution team, discusses how it will work in practice and whether it will be an improvement on current legislation.  

In the Queen’s Speech earlier this year, it was confirmed that the Data Reform Bill would strengthen the UK’s high data protection standards while reducing the burden on businesses. Since then, more information has been released and the Bill has entered its first stage in parliament. But what does the new Bill outline? 

The Data Reform Bill: Five factors to consider 

​1. Reducing barriers to responsible innovation

The proposed reforms aim to promote innovation by providing more clarity in relation to the processing of data for scientific research. The Data Reform Bill will simplify the legal requirements around research so that scientists are not impeded from using data to conduct their research. 

It will also clearly define the scope of scientific research and give clarity on what scientists need to do to obtain a person’s consent to use their data for research purposes. Under the current rules, scientists can only obtain a person’s consent when they know the specific study they will be using the data for. The Data Reform Bill is intending to change this to give scientists the power to rely on someone’s consent for their data to be used for any research in a certain field. 

​2. Reducing burdens on businesses and delivering better outcomes for people 

The government has confirmed that it feels there has been a lack of clarity surrounding the EU GDPR, which has resulted in businesses adopting a one-size-fits-all approach rather than assessing the risk of their actual data processing activities. The Data Reform Bill will focus on reducing the unnecessary burden on businesses, meaning that small businesses will not have to recruit independent Data Protection Officers (DPO) if they can manage the risks effectively themselves. There will therefore be a shift to looking at precisely what data businesses are processing, and the risk involved, rather than one rule for everyone. 

​3. Boosting trade and reducing barriers to data flows 

The government intends, through the Data Reform Bill, to create an autonomous framework for international data transfers that reflect the UK’s approach to data protection. The aim of this is to drive forward international commerce, trade, and development. 

​4. Delivering better public services 

The government has confirmed that it wants to create a data ecosystem for the public sector being a collaboration between the public and private sectors across all parts of the UK. The intention behind this is to improve the delivery of government services through better use and sharing of personal data. 

​5. Reform of the Information Commissioner’s Office 

The proposed reforms seek to better equip the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in performing its functions as a regulator. The ICO will be modernised to have a chair, chief executive, and a board to make sure it remains an internationally recognised regulator. 

The ICO will also have new objectives that will give parliament and the public the power to hold the ICO to account, an improvement upon the current regulations, which do not give the ICO any clear framework of objectives and duties. The intention behind the reform is to create a stronger regulator who can take a risk-based and proactive approach, tackling the highest-risk data processing activities whilst helping other organisations comply with the law from the outset rather than simply telling them what they are doing wrong. 

What does this mean?  

The government published its response to the consultation on the Data Reform Bill, in June 2022, in which it pledged to go forward with a number of changes to the UK’s post-Brexit data protection framework.  

Amongst these suggested changes included removing organisations’ requirements to designate data protection officers (DPOs), ending the need for mandatory data protection impact assessments (DPIAs), and introducing a “fee regime” for subject access requests (SARs). All of these are now included in the updated Bill in some form that has been introduced to parliament.  

However, there are still uncertainties that remain unanswered and doubts as to whether the Bill deviates far enough away from GDPR. It will be interesting to watch the Bill pass through parliament and to see if it will be passed when the government comes back from its summer break in September, as well as seeing what further information and questions will be answered. 

For more information on dispute resolution, please visit: https://www.nelsonslaw.co.uk/dispute-resolution-solicitors/  

• Wealth Managers can now implement TrueLayer Payments for customers without any additional coding when using WealthOS to build their products.

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, today announces its partnership with WealthOS, the innovative SaaS platform that accelerates digital adoption and innovation for wealth managers. Together we are bringing the benefits of instant bank payments –  improved speed, customer experience and security, at a lower operational cost – to the account funding process.

The higher value transactions in wealth management make account funding with card payments ineffective as they can be flagged by banks, resulting in delays, rejected payments and customer dissatisfaction. As a result, customers can miss critical deadlines such as end-of-tax-year allowances or the market opportunities they were trying to capture. Online bank transfers offer another method to fund accounts, but require customers to leave a wealth app, sign in to their banking portal and carry out the transfer — often frustratingly toggling back-and-forth between screens and devices.

With this collaboration, WealthOS clients can embed TrueLayer’s instant, secure account-to-account payments within the funding journeys of their digital wealth products. Better still, the collaboration is part of WealthOS’ no code integrations marketplace, meaning WealthOS clients can access this seamless account funding capability without writing a single line of code. Payments powered by TrueLayer remove the need for customers to leave their wealth app to make payments. Instead, customers simply select the ‘Instant bank transfer’ option at the top of the payment screen and authenticate to confirm the payment.

As well as improving the customer experience through smoother deposits, payments with TrueLayer provide numerous operational benefits. This includes lower processing fees compared to other deposit methods and real-time payment confirmation and settlement, providing wealth managers with the assurance that every transaction has been authorised and received into their customers’ account.

Anton Padmasiri, Co-founder/CEO, as WealthOS explained: “Customer experience is the battleground upon which many wealth management firms are fighting to gain users. To capture the significant generational transfer of wealth and expansion of the industry over coming years, wealth managers need to be able to compete with seamless financial experiences that consumers have elsewhere in their lives. We are thrilled to be able to bring secure, seamless account funding to wealth management products through our partnership with TrueLayer.”

Nick Tucker, Head of Financial Services at TrueLayer, commented: “Fast and secure account funding is an essential element of a great wealth management service. Customers are used to these experiences in their everyday lives, so why should the management of their money and long-term investing be any different? That’s why we’re excited by the possibilities that partnering with WealthOS will deliver by embedding our instant, secure payments into their platform and supporting wealth managers to deliver a truly digital experience.”

By Ronald Chan, Founder of Chartwell Capital the Hong Kong based independent investment manager focused on Hong Kong and Mainland China listed equity.

As China’s management of Covid continues to diverge from that of many other markets, investors are attempting to understand the approach and its implications for investments in local asset classes. Ronald Chan, Founder of Chartwell Capital, the Hong Kong based independent investment manager, outlines his local insights.

China’s Covid lockdown predicament can be summed up by a personal experience, notes Ronald Chan, the founder of independent investment manager Chartwell Capital.

“In Hong Kong, cases are rising, but business in general is as usual. The government is likely to take new measures by relaxing the quarantine policy soon, and since there will be some major international conferences and events in November, there is a chance that the quarantine policy will be further relaxed,” he says.

It is noticeable from Hong Kong how several of the better-known global news services seem to be misunderstanding the wider situation regarding Covid in and around China, Chan continues.

“A lot of people have repeatedly criticised the Zero Covid policy. We must acknowledge that China has 1.4 billion people. There may be some 700 million who are pro-business and are in the middle class, so a Zero Covid policy may hurt their businesses. But then there are still some 700 million or so living in a lower socioeconomic tier.”

“With many living in poverty, around 300 million people in China are making only one US dollar a day. These people may lack healthcare and support if they get Covid, so Beijing has to make a tough call by balancing the livelihood of the entire nation, which is not easy. ”

“Similarly in Hong Kong, it is easy to criticize the 7-day quarantine policy when many other parts of the world have opened up, but if you look behind the decision, it is actually a Catch-22 situation. If we open to the world, we may attract international visitors and maintain Hong Kong as an international city. If we don’t and just open the border with mainland China, which requires zero Covid, we may rescue our local economy.”

“There are roughly 60 million annual visitors to Hong Kong – per the pre-pandemic trend – some 50 million come from China and 10 from the rest of the world. Without the 10 million visitors, the Hong Kong economy will suffer – but not as much as missing the 50 million Chinese visitors.” 

Watching the COVID policy has reaped enormous benefits over the past two years, says Chan, referencing stocks whose prices are highly correlated to the state of Covid in segments such as local retailers, local department stores, local property developers, regional airlines, hospitality or healthcare companies operating beauty clinics or other related parlours.

“What we have seen is range-bound movements. We must take a very active approach in buying quality businesses, with company management we can trust that are here to survive. At the same time, we dynamically rebalance our portfolio in respect of each company on the basis of change in local policies. I call this a ‘buy-and-hold-and-rebalancing approach.’” 

“With that said, COVID will pass. As we count down towards a new quarantine policy, added with potential economic stimulus or regulatory easing from Beijing, maybe the range-bound movements will break out towards the upside. After all, we’ve been in a bear market since last year and valuation has come down to extremely attractive levels with dividend yields showing their widest spreads against an anticipated rising interest rate environment.” 

Opportunities

Regardless of the particular Covid policy approach, a market such as Hong Kong continues to enjoy factors that make it interesting for investors, Chan continues.

One is the currency peg, which reduces currency risk.

“While a strengthening US dollar affects many international currencies, the fact that the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar means that investors have one less factor to worry about.” 

At the macro level, while China’s GDP growth has slowed, it remains faster than many other places. For international investors concerned about investing in Chinese companies listed in China and the US, Hong Kong remains the best gateway to gain such an exposure and capture growth.

And the local market offers access to international standards. All listed companies in Hong Kong report in accordance with IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards); they comply with Common Law; and they can access liquidity in line with the relative total market capitalisation size of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which means it can absorb abundant capital flows, Chan notes. 

“Indeed, big money needs a big pond, and Hong Kong is one of them. Last but not least, stocks listed in Hong Kong currently have the lowest valuation and the highest dividend yields. For all of these reasons, I am bullish on Hong Kong!”

Funeral sector disruptor and market leader Pure Cremation Financial Planning Ltd is proud to announce it has been authorised to provide funeral plans by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority1.
From today (29th July) regulation of the sale and administration of funeral plans will be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – a move intended to enhance public trust in the sector.
Pure Cremation Funeral Planning welcomed FCA oversight as it will create transparency across the sector and give the consumers the safeguards they deserve.
The news follows a recent report on Funeral Planning by market intelligence specialists Mintel2 into the future of the funeral industry and funeral plans, which revealed Pure Cremation Funeral Planning Ltd took the number one position for UK funeral plan sales in 2021, signalling a shift in attitudes in how people want to say goodbye to someone special.
Last year Pure Cremation overtook Co-op Funeralcare and Dignity, achieving gross plan sales of around 65,700 – nearly four times the volume it achieved in 2020.3
The Funeral Planning UK report by Mintel2 also found that sales of direct cremation plans – a straightforward and affordable alternative to traditional funerals where the deceased is collected, cared for, and then cremated without a service or mourners present – are driving growth in the whole pre-paid funeral plan sector.
According to the researchers, the number of prepaid funeral plans sold in 2021 grew by 35% on the previous year to reach 217,000, bringing an end to a four-year decline in annual sales.
A YouGov survey commissioned by Pure Cremation (June 10th 2022), a specialist direct cremation provider, found that 42% of respondents cited ‘low cost’ as an important factor when planning a funeral.
This is echoed in the Mintel report which states: “With household budgets increasingly coming under strain from rising inflation, cost considerations are likely to come even more to the fore over the coming year.”
Paul Thilo, the Managing Director of Pre-Need Services at Pure Cremation Funeral Planning Ltd, said: “We are really pleased to be an FCA authorised funeral plan provider. Here at Pure Cremation, we have always worked hard to ensure our customers can be confident they receive a fair and truly supportive service for complete peace of mind now, and great support for their dependents when cremation is needed.
“We anticipate that regulation will give even more customers the confidence to secure the benefits of fixing the cost of their funeral by purchasing a secure funeral plan. The move to regulation means all plan holders get extra protection, thanks to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protecting against plan provider insolvency in the future, plus the Financial Ombudsman to deal with complaints about authorised firms.
“Pure Cremation is committed to giving customers access to high quality, transparent and low-cost funeral plans which work for them and their families.”

References:
1 1 Funeral Plans Consultation Response Final.docx (publishing.service.gov.uk)
2Funeral Planning – UK – 2022 – Executive Summary.pdf
3 2 Pure Cremation Funeral Planning Ltd has sold more plans in H1 of 2021 than reported in Dignity plc’s and Cooperative Funeralcare’s reported results

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, will officially be opening the Manchester hub today

London and Manchester, UK – 28th July 2022 – Emerging talent management consultancy, Grayce and Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, are officially announcing the opening of Grayce’s two new £2m+ collaborative workspaces in Manchester and London today, along with a further £2m invested in building its training development programmes. In a bid to future proof the employability of young people by equipping them with the necessary skills now needed in this digital-first era, Grayce has also expanded on its partnership programmes to improve digital inclusion and social mobility in tech.

Grayce’s new collaboration hubs, along with the training investment, directly supports its rapidly growing Analyst community in developing the most-in-demand skills across industries, in data, tech and digital. The workspaces are vital in building on the interpersonal and tech skills of young professionals and recent graduates, while promoting collaborative learning, through Grayce’s three dedicated Development Programmes – Change+, Data+ and Tech+.

In support of this critical investment into levelling up in the North and in celebration of the expanded partnership programme, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, will be in attendance to officially open the Manchester hub today.

Grayce expands partnership programmes to improve social mobility

Grayce is committed to go above and beyond to ensure equal opportunities for all. This is why it has a carefully selected partners programme to provide new opportunities to improve social mobility and further its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The consultancy is now a signatory of the Tech Talent Charter, whose goal is that the UK tech sector can become a diverse and truly inclusive community, accepting of people from all backgrounds. Grayce is also partnered with CFTE, a social responsibility initiative and outreach partnership where from Grayce’s Analyst community and Delivery Management Team have previously helped deliver sessions designed to boost students’ employability.

Grayce has also joined Manchester Digital to run industry insight sessions at FinTech forums and Digital Skills festivals, to champion diversity and emerging talent in tech to help bridge the skills gap. Additionally, Manchester Digital run Digital Her, which is supported by Grayce’s Women in Tech drive as a way to further promote its sponsorship initiative and attract more applicants to Grayce’s programmes and scholarship offerings.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester said “It’s great to see partnerships of this kind coming to the region. We want to ensure that everyone in Greater Manchester, whatever their age, location or situation, can benefit from the opportunities digital brings, including equipping our young people with the skills they need and supporting those wanting to future proof their employability. Investment of this kind will do just that.

“I’m also pleased to see the importance of digital inclusion recognised through these important partnerships, we have to make a big commitment to combat digital exclusion, the consequences of not doing so are severe – with our people at risk of further social isolation, lack of equal opportunities and not being able to access support.”

Geoff Smith, CEO of Grayce commented, “We are hiring more graduates than ever before and are committed to giving as many talented young people as we can the best possible start to their career. Our partnerships take this one step further and together, we will be able to provide more opportunities for people from all different backgrounds wanting to learn new digital skills.

“With the world of work constantly changing, we understand the importance of offering flexible and remote working. However, we also recognise that many young professionals and new graduates are craving in-person interactions and the chance to learn collaboratively together, some of whom have never set foot in an office or met their colleagues face-to-face before. That’s why we’re investing millions in our new collaborative workspaces, where we’ll be giving our Analysts the chance to learn through their peers and colleagues, bounce ideas off each other readily and build long-lasting and meaningful working relationships.”

Growth strategy

This all comes amid a period of rapid growth for Grayce. Its intake of Analysts has increased by 95% in the last 12 months alone, and another 450 graduates will be hired this year. To date, the consultancy has helped start the careers of over 2000 graduates and is now servicing 65% more clients than it was in 2016 as the demand for skilled professionals in change, data and tech continues to rise. This has seen Grayce’s turnover increase from £10m in 2019/20 to £30m in 2021/22, showing a 190% increase over three years, with an 89% increase in turnover for the most recent fiscal year compared to the year before. Furthermore, the last three years have seen Grayce increase its employed staff from 249 to 637. The FT1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2022 recognised Grayce as the 8th fastest growing Management Consultancy in the UK.  

Senior strategic hires

As part of Grayce’s ambitious growth strategy, it is also adding new hires to its senior management team. Kate Davies has joined the business in January as COO, bringing with her a wealth of experience as a senior Operations Director, having worked across business change, technology transformation, L&D and international resourcing for many years.

Sarah Marshall has joined as Learning & Development Programme Manager, and Dugald McIntosh joins as Practice Director, focused on building Grayce’s Energy and Health Practices.

Vertical practice growth

Grayce’s vertical offering has expanded in order to meet the growing demand of tech skills in various industries. This has led to the hiring of Product Leaders and the pivoting of the Retail Practice to Consumer Tech as the Retail industry moves into a recession. Grayce now serves 9 key verticals with the newer additions of Energy, Utilities & Health. The consultancies 9 verticals are: Financial Services; Consumer Tech; Insurance; Energy, Utilities & Health; Pharma & Life Sciences; Legal; FinTech and B2B Tech; Transport & Logistics and Channel partners.

Berlin/Bratislava, 28 July 2022 – Tatra banka has announced the launch of its latest green banking feature for its online banking brand Blue Planet to its over 600,000 customers. Leading climate engagement fintech ecolytiq provides the software solution behind Tatra banka’s new feature, allowing Tatra banka’s customers to actively monitor their impact on the planet, receive tips on how to reduce it, and enjoy rewards for sustainable purchasing decisions.

To shift consumer behaviour towards more sustainable spending, the ecolytiq Sustainability-as-a-Service® software – which calculates personal environmental impact such as CO2 values on the basis of payment transactions – will work in conjunction with Tatra banka to inform and educate consumers about how their spending is impacting the environment.

“Through this partnership, Tatra banka has decided to become both a trendsetter and role model in the banking world,” says ecolytiq Co-founder and Managing Director Ulrich Pietsch. “Green banking is the chance for banks to future-proof their proposition, while improving their relationships with their customers and Tatra banka is well on their way to do just that.”

Through introducing CO2 footprinting within its mobile banking app, Tatra banka customers can actively monitor their impact on the planet, receive personalised tips on how to reduce it, and enjoy rewards for sustainable purchases.

Peter Golha, the Acquisition, Segments and Non-credit Products Division Director at Tatra banka: “We realise that as a bank, we play a role in the transformation towards sustainability. Not only have we a chance to change our own trajectory but also a chance to live the topic of sustainability alongside our clients. Therefore, we have decided to launch the Account for Blue Planet, which represents a unique connection of digital solutions that make the daily maintenance of finance easier and intelligent technologies directed at a sustainable future better,” says “We appreciate that we could cooperate with such creative partners as ecolytiq and Visa when creating this innovation,” adds Mr. Golha.

Stephen King, VP Sustainability Solutions, Visa in Europe: “The financial services industry has an opportunity to give consumers the tools to make more sustainable choices. Through our ongoing partnership with ecolytiq, Visa is proud to be supporting Tatra banka as it rolls out access to more sustainable banking, offering features to their customers that enable them to understand the impact of every transaction and importantly engages them in ways to shift their purchases to be more sustainable. We remain committed to supporting ecolytiq on the next stage of its growth, and recently made an equity investment to power the development and expansion of its Sustainability-as-a-Service® solution across Europe. I look forward to seeing what the future of this partnership has to hold.” 

www.ukhouse2022.co.uk

• Creation of 200 new jobs in the West Midlands, backed by strong investment
• Commonwealth Business Forum will champion clean growth through trade and investment

Birmingham, UK, 26 July 2022. A major job creation backed by a strong investment has been announced by Firstsource, a global process management provider headquartered in Mumbai, India. The announcement comes two days before the Commonwealth Business Forum is to be held during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on Thursday 28 July 2022.

Firstsource is set to create up to 200 new roles in the West Midlands by the year end, building on the 300 jobs created since the start of 2022. Operating in the UK since 2006, the company currently employs over 5,000 people nationwide. To support its growth ambitions, Firstsource is launching a training scheme in collaboration with West Midlands’ local authorities and education bodies.

 The investment has been supported by the Business and Tourism Programme (BATP), the first programme of its kind established to boost the economic impact of the Commonwealth Games.

 The highlight of the programme is the Commonwealth Business Forum, which builds on the UK’s climate leadership at COP26 to champion green growth across member nations. As athletes prepare for their first day of competition at the Games, business leaders will gather at the ICC, Birmingham to discuss how the transition to net zero can stimulate sustainable economic growth through trade, including green investment opportunities, ideas for green finance and innovative technologies.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of the Confederation of Indian Industry
• Jerome Frost, Chairman – UK, India, Middle East & Africa, Arup
• Andrew Griffith MP, Minister for Exports, Department for International Trade
• Lord Marland, Chairman, Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council
• Julia Prescot, Partner, Chief Strategy Officer, Meridiam
• Amanda Pullinger, CEO, 100 Women in Finance
• Athletes Tessa Sanderson CBE and Stef Reid MBE

Andrew Griffith MP, UK Minister for Exports said:
“The Commonwealth Games not only showcase some of the best sporting talent around the world, but equally allow businesses to shine. That’s why I am looking forward to welcoming and working with so many brilliant businesses at these Games.

“By working together for these major cultural moments, we can highlight great examples of UK exporters and investors. There is huge potential across the West Midlands – for levelling up, new investments and to support our drive to net zero – and these Games are a chance to fly the flag for the region and the wider UK economy.”

Firstsource specialises in digitally empowered customer experiences, intelligent back-office processes and platforms, automation and analytics solutions, with clients across banking and financial services, communications, telecoms and media, healthcare and other industries. The new Birmingham operation will provide services for two leading UK banks, with a view to expanding to other clients.

Rajiv Malhotra, Head of Europe Business at Firstsource, commented: “The West Midlands is the UK’s largest hub for regional, professional and financial services business – the unrivalled support for rapidly expanding businesses made the region and the city of Birmingham an obvious choice for our new operation.

“We are delighted with our partnerships with education and investment organisations in the region and look forward to further collaborations. The new training approach will help Firstsource access a wider talent pool and unlock tremendous potential to build digital customer experience hubs for our clients.”

Through support from the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Firstsource launched a pilot for an innovative three-week pre-employment training programme for residents seeking work.

Delivered via Birmingham Metropolitan College and BCTG Group, the pilot aims to develop a pipeline of work-ready customer experience advisers. The West Midlands’ pilot programme will be used by Firstsource as a blueprint to roll out similar initiatives across its other UK centres.

Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said:
“With the Commonwealth Business Forum set to showcase the economic importance of the Commonwealth, this significant investment is a true vote of confidence in the region as a global hub for businesses looking to trade, innovate and grow. Building on India’s strong track record of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the region, these 200 new jobs are brilliant news for Birmingham and I look forward to seeing Firstsource go from strength to strength at their new UK headquarters.”

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “I welcome this inward investment into our region from Firstsource and the 200 new jobs they’re creating. Given the economic importance of the Commonwealth, this significant vote of confidence in us from Firstsource is very timely as it underlines our credentials as a global business hub and builds on India’s strong track record of foreign direct investment into the West Midlands. I wish them great success.”

The Commonwealth Business Forum is part of UK House, a platform to bring together businesses and governments to discover opportunities for partnership and innovations for sustainable growth during Birmingham 2022. It is hosted by the UK’s Department for International Trade, in partnership with the region’s official economic development agency, the West Midlands Growth Company.

For more information on the Commonwealth Business Forum or to register to attend one of the seven sector focus days at UK House, visit:  www.ukhouse2022.co.uk