The Simmons & Simmons FinTech Fund was launched in May 2016 and is the first fund of its kind designed to help early stage FinTech businesses solve some of the difficult legal problems they often encounter at the infancy of their businesses. The firm announced the first four FinTech start-ups designated to benefit from the Fund last month.
The successful recipients responded to the news that they were to receive support from Simmons & Simmons as follows:
- Alterest - Alterest provide a wide range of investors with efficient and scalable access to the non-bank SME and consumer credit markets. Jeevan Param, Co-Founder and CEO of Alterest commented “Launching a FinTech business is unlike starting up in most other industries. There are aspects where we cannot stay lean. One of these aspects is the initial and ongoing legal support required. The S&S FinTech Fund, I thought, would give founders an opportunity to stay lean and focus on product execution early on. The support is meaningful as legal work is a critical part of our product development process and also support from an international brand like Simmons & Simmons brings added credibility critical to FinTech companies.”
- Cuvva - Cuvva is the UK’s first and only mobile insurer. Their mission is to create flexible car insurance that fits around your life. Freddy Macnamara, Founder and CEO of Cuvva, commented “So far we have used the Fund for a multitude of issues. The team has been invaluable with our latest round of funding and have helped to complete the deal in a timely manner. We are also going through an underwriter negotiation at the moment and we have been able to use the Fund to assist us with this.”
- Railsbank - Railsbank is a Banking As a Service and compliance platform that enables FinTech companies to access global banking with five lines of code, and enables banks to bank FinTech through modern technology and manage the compliance risks. Nigel Verdon, Co-Founder and CEO of Railsbank, commented “Access to free legal services is available via most of the accelerator platforms, but access to a global financial services specialist legal firm is unique.”
- Tallysticks - Tallysticks is a revolutionary invoicing software. It leverages the functionality of blockchain to share a common record of immutable invoice-related data for all parties to transparently edit and update. Kush Patel, Co-Founder of Tallysticks commented “Given that we know of no other law firm with a similar Fund, we were very keen to take advantage of an opportunity that could help us more quickly deliver our product to market. Overcoming regulatory obstacles has often prevented innovation in finance. As a result of being awarded the Simmons & Simmons FinTech Fund, we are now able to defray some of our regulatory costs so that we can devote more of our capital towards product development.”
Partner and leader of the firm’s International FinTech Team, Angus McLean, commented: “We are delighted to be working with these four promising and exciting FinTech start-ups. Through the Simmons & Simmons FinTech Fund we think we can make a very meaningful contribution to helping each business become a leading player in its particular field.”
Notes to editors:
1. We are a leading international law firm with fully integrated teams working through offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and bring experienced professionals to some of the most active growth markets today. Our focus on a small number of sectors means we are able to understand and respond to our clients’ needs. Our industry sectors are: Asset Management & Investment Funds, Financial Institutions, Life Sciences and Telecoms, Media & Technology (TMT). We also focus on the E&I market, in particular through our international projects and construction teams. We have a track record for innovation and delivering value to clients through new ways of working.
2. Simmons & Simmons is an international legal practice carried on by Simmons & Simmons LLP and its affiliated practices. Accordingly, references to Simmons & Simmons mean Simmons & Simmons LLP and the other partnerships and other entities or practices authorised to use the name “Simmons & Simmons” or one or more of those practices as the context requires. The word “partner” refers to a member of Simmons & Simmons LLP or an employee or consultant with equivalent standing and qualifications or to an individual with equivalent status in one of Simmons & Simmons LLP’s affiliated practices.
3. In response to growing demand in this area, Simmons & Simmons has established an International FinTech Team made up of expert lawyers from across all practice areas within the firm to provide a full-service offering to clients operating in the FinTech sector. The team members are recognised as leaders in their fields and have extensive experience of advising businesses in both the financial services and technology industries.
4. The Simmons & Simmons FinTech Fund was announced on 25 May and formally launched at the firm’s annual legal update for the TMT sector the following day. It has been shortlisted for the Legal Services Innovation Award at the upcoming British Legal Awards (to be announced 24 November). The firm's commitment to innovation includes a partner-led Innovation Group (of which Angus McLean is a member).
5. For all firmwide news and expert commentary, visit our website at simmons-simmons.com.
6. News is also published via the firm’s page on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/simmons-&-simmons.
7. More information on each of the 2016 recipients are available on their websites: Alterest (http://alterest.co/); Cuvva (https://www.cuvva.com/); Railsbank (http://www.railsbank.com/) and Tallysticks (http://tallysticks.io/)