Following the pandemic, digitisation has accelerated rapidly, and industries have seen changes in just a few months that might otherwise have taken years. The FinTech sector is no different, and the FinTech Alliance held an insightful panel this month on ‘The Investment Landscape Post-Covid’. The panel discussed the areas of focus within FinTech, including the trends they expect over the coming year.

Chaired by FinTech Alliance’s Olivia Minnock, the panel consisted of: Sanchit Dhote, Outward VC; Sia Houchangnia, Seedcamp; James Dickerson, Motive Partners and Michael Sim, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures. As an investor in several successful FinTech businesses, their insights for founders looking for early-stage investment were invaluable.  

I am an investor in the one-click payments infrastructure Bolt – the digitisation of payments has grown massively following the pandemic. Fintech will continue to develop, and the panel discussed that they were looking to invest in more complex trade finance business to business products. Crypto was also an area highlighted by the panel as an area ripe for innovation and investment. I have particular interest in this sector, as I am an investor in Blockchain.com, the world’s most popular way to buy, hold, and use Crypto. Blockchain.com is an exciting organisation, and has the potential to extend beyond cryptocurrency, offering the opportunity to store non-financial data in the future.  

As an investor myself, I would like to echo the closing advice given by the panel to FinTech founders. In the age of video meetings, the human element remains important and I encourage founders to work to build connections over video calls. Adaptable founders are important for investors, when approaching challenges from COVID-19 and beyond. It is a period of dynamic change for the FinTech and I am looking forward to seeing the new innovations and developments within the industry.