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Inaugural cohort for Octopus Labs FinTech accelerator announced

The first five participants in the Octopus Labs inaugural FinTech accelerator cohort have been revealed after a competitive pitching event last week.

CityFALCON, MOOLA, Squirrel, Freetrade and Advicefront will all be taking part in the 12-week programme which kicks off at the beginning of October, after pitching to a panel of judges that included ex-head of Google UK Dan Cobley and the Chief Executive Officer of Dunelm, John Browett.

The Octopus Labs accelerator, which had over 80 applications following an open call for startups, had put out a call for product-ready FinTech startups which it will support and help to commercialise for the mainstream market.

The five successful businesses will now benefit from workspace at Octopus’s central London headquarters and will be supported by mentors drawn from the upper echelons of the capital’s thriving FinTech sector, including Revolut’s Alan Change and CEO at FinTech Circle Innovation, Nicole Anderson.

Programme Director Aggelos Mouzakitis, said that the programme had been ‘overwhelmed’ by the number of applications they have received since launching the accelerator at the end of August.

“We launched the search for our start-ups just a few weeks ago, and have been truly overwhelmed by the number and standard of the applications we received in such a short time.

“Whittling the hopefuls down to our final five was no easy task, but I’m thrilled with the cohort that we’ll be welcoming to Octopus over the next few weeks. The quality of their ideas, and the potential they hold, is truly impressive,” he said.

As part of the programme, Octopus will have the option to later invest or ‘spin in’ to each of the five startups if their three month stint at the group’s headquarters proves succesful.

The accelerator is part of the Octopus Group, which includes investment firm Octopus Investments and Octopus Ventures, and will run alongside the group’s other intitiatives.

The five startups

CityFALCON - a member of Level39, the London-based startup provides personalised news feeds for non-institutional traders and investors utilising machine learning and crowd curation.

MOOLA - also based in London, MOOLA is developing an easy-to-use investing platform that aims to turn regular people into investors.

Squirrel - a ‘financial wellbeing’ company that works with employers to improve the finances of their employees, including the staggered release of salaries.

Freetrade - startup which provides a commission-free investment platform through its mobile app.

Advicefront - support platform for Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) that hopes to give them a competitive advantage while giving regular investors access to sound financial advice.

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