Manufacturing & Supply Chain

NDRC, the investor in young digital companies, in partnership with Bank of Ireland, is launching a new early-stage, part-time fintech programme for professionals in the financial services sector.

With the sector attracting record levels of investment in Europe and the US, and growing here at a rapid rate, the potential for Irish startups to create transformative new digital technologies and generate jobs remains high.

The initiative will be run at NDRC and is designed for individuals at the ideas stage who aren’t yet ready to take the full step towards formally starting a business. With the support of expert advisors from Bank of Ireland and NDRC, as well as a panel of volunteers with specialist skills, individuals will have the opportunity to test their idea and assess potential.

The programme will take place over three weeks on Friday afternoons and Saturdays, starting in early November. Applications can be made at www.ndrc.ie.

Gary Leyden, Commercial Director, NDRC said: “NDRC has a strong record in finding some great companies in the fintech sector, the money messaging app Plynk and trading performance firm Chasing Returns being good examples. However, despite having such a strong international financial services sector, we are not seeing enough fintech startup disruption emerging. NDRC believes Ireland needs to do more in this space and this programme is a way to bring our tech industry and financial services industries closer together.

“Fintech is transforming how financial services are managed and delivered across multiple sectors. It’s an exciting space and moving fast with new innovations emerging in areas such as how money is transferred, regulation and compliance, security and insurance, how credit risks are scored and in payments generally.

“With this programme we want to catch people who have deep domain knowledge of financial services, know the industry and may have ideas as to how technologies such as blockchain, data analytics and artificial intelligence can be leveraged to change it.”

Ideas with the most potential will be considered for investment and acceleration support by NDRC after the programme is completed.

David Tighe, Head of Innovation at Bank of Ireland, said: “We’re delighted with the opportunity to continue our successful partnership with NDRC who are established leaders in incubating and investing in promising start-ups, particularly in the fintech space. We believe our team can bring their significant expertise to bear for start-up entrepreneurs in the fintech sector.

“Bank of Ireland has pioneered the development of spaces in branches which support start up fintech companies and entrepreneurs, with our Workbench Spaces now open in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. We also support fintech growth in StartLab – a startup incubator – also based in Galway, Dublin and New York and designed to incubate high potential start-ups to scale rapidly.

“Supporting early stage fintech in Ireland is pivotal to supporting business growth and we look forward to working with this new cohort of fintech innovators.”