Edinburgh fintech creates jobs with £500k funding ahead of New Year launch

A fledgling Edinburgh fintech led by a trio of Scottish tech veterans has secured six-figure seed funding to create jobs and develop its offering as it prepares for product launch.

A trio of high-profile business leaders will join the fintech's board under funding deal.

Visible Capital, a platform to support wealth managers and independent financial advisers (IFAs), has landed £500,000 from Techstart Ventures and a consortium of eight private investors.

The fintech has also received a boost through the addition of three senior board members. Preston Rabl, co-founder of advertising and public relations giant WPP will join the firm’s board, while former Deloitte senior partner Ian Steel and experienced director Iain Mackay will join the advisory board.

Visible Capital said the funding injection has allowed it to hire “critical” staff members and move directly to talks with key potential users as it gears up for launch in early 2020.

Visible Capital's platform is designed to support wealth managers and independent financial advisers. Picture: Contributed

Co-founder Richard Braidwood, a former fintech adviser to Deloitte, said: “Seed funding has allowed us to hit the ground running. We are confident that the market is ready, and indeed, has been waiting, for the Visible Capital platform.

“Financial advisers and wealth managers still take information from their clients in paper form – which means the advice they give and the strategies they suggest can only be as good as the immediate information they receive.”

'A huge opportunity'

The start-up’s technology is designed to help clients of intermediaries, such as wealth managers, pension providers and IFAs, provide their advisers with controlled access to their financial data, which allows them to receive quicker, more informed advice on financial matters.

Braidwood established the fintech with Ross Laurie, whose roles include acting as an adviser to payment platform Etch Work, and Christian Burgin, who has served as a guest lecturer at Strathclyde Business School’s fintech courses.

The business has already secured regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority and is currently in discussions with several potential clients.

Braidwood added: “Visible Capital’s technology allows the intermediary agreed and controlled access to real data about spending needs, wants, savings and borrowing, giving an instantly accurate picture of their clients’ ongoing finances – making the onboarding process quicker and easier, and a lot more precise.

"Switching to a data-driven onboarding process seems like an inevitable step forward, allowing advisers to mitigate risk, benefit from built-in compliance, and give better advice in one fell swoop.”

Techstart Ventures partner Mark Hogarth said the team had spotted “a huge opportunity and their combined experience means they are uniquely placed to deliver on it”.