North of England FinTech Innovation Challenge: Programme Write-up
Celebrating Our First Innovation Challenge
We’re proud to look back on the first-ever North of England FinTech Innovation Challenge, delivered by FinTech North in partnership with NatWest. From April to September, we brought together some of the most ambitious FinTech innovators from across the North and beyond to tackle one big question:
‘How is emerging technology shaping the future of customer experience?’
The Challenge grew out of a recommendation in Whitecap Consulting‘s North of England FinTech Report 2025, which named an innovation challenge as one of five ‘big ideas’ to accelerate growth and collaboration across the region. Seeing that idea become a living, breathing programme, with ambitious businesses, dedicated mentors, real momentum and the backing of a major high street bank like NatWest, has been incredibly exciting.
The response was fantastic. We received a high volume of applications and welcomed a cohort of 20 organisations, each bringing fresh thinking on how technology can transform the customer experience in financial services.
Above all, the Challenge showed what happens when the ecosystem works together. Founders, NatWest experts, mentors, and ecosystem partners all shared their time, insight and energy, helping each organisation sharpen and strengthen its work in customer experience, one of the most important conversations in FinTech today.
Before sharing our journey, we’d like to give a big shout out to all of the amazing organisations who took part in the programme; A huge thank you to White Label Loyalty, Doconomy, Debeo, SideUp, Finclusion, EQUE Corp, ValArt, Fincore, Nuke from Orbit, SmartPredict, HedgeFlows, Treasury Delta,Vamos, Onteric, Suz Finance,Dialect, Finproxy, Doqit, Quiklyand Money Carer!
The Journey
Launch Event (29 April 2026): 10 businesses take the stage
We kicked off the programme with a launch event where 10 cohort members pitched their ideas to the room, setting the tone for the months ahead:
- Achille Traore, CEO, White Label Loyalty
- Adam Armer, Director UK/IRE & NA, Doconomy
- Alex Beardsley, Founder, Debeo
- Harris Asghar, Founder, Fincore AI
- Manish Nautiyal, Founder, SmartPredict
- Suz Ferreira, Founder, Suz Finance
- Neh Thaker, Managing Director, HedgeFlows
- Padraig Brosnan, CEO, Treasury Delta
- Catherine Ann Reid, Founder & CEO, Doqit
- Luke Hope, CTO, Onteric
Workshop 1: Customer Experience That Matters (19 May 2026)
Led by Jessica Grocutt, Senior Relationship Manager at NatWest, businesses used the Business Model Canvas to dig into the root causes of customer pain points and shape a sharper CX proposition. Joe van Gelder, Co-Founder, Powdr, joined for a Q&A, sharing his experience as a banker, lender, adviser and founder.
Workshop 2: Setting Goals to Accelerate Your Business (17 June 2026)
Facilitated by Sophie Gowling, Senior Relationship Manager, NatWest, this session used the GROW Model to help businesses set clear, measurable goals, prioritise the customer problems where they could make the biggest difference, and build a plan to validate their solutions.
Workshop 3: Pitching Workshop & Feedback Session (7 July 2026)
Businesses got hands-on with pitch structure and heard from Charlotte Scott, Director of Roast My Pitch, Ben McMullan, Relationship Director at NatWest, and an investor perspective on what makes a pitch memorable and investable. They finished with dedicated development time and 1:1 sessions with High Growth Champions.
Tailored Mentorship
Throughout the programme, NatWest offered tailored mentorship to the cohort, helping the businesses refine their proposition around the challenge statement and a focus on customer experience.
Showcase Finale (17 September 2026, NatWest, Spinningfields, Manchester)
The programme came full circle with a live showcase in front of a panel of judges and an audience of financial services leaders, ecosystem partners and innovators. Eight FinTechs pitched:
- Byron Rodriguez, CEO, Quikly
- Christopher Bosworth, Founder, Finclusion
- Rich Wainwright, Founder & CEO, FinProxy
- Padraig Brosnan, CEO, Treasury Delta
- Catherine Ann Reid, Founder & CEO, Doqit
- Alana Neimanis, Co-Founder & Head of Marketing, and Richard Huston, CEO & Co-Founder, Vamos
- Lawrence Chadwick-Smith, Head of Marketing, Money Carer
- Manish Nautiyal, Founder, SmartPredict
It was brilliant to see how all of the businesses that pitched at the finale had honed their propositions around the challenge statement, and we saw really strong growth across the group.
Our judges
We were delighted to be joined by a panel of judges:
- Ian Crawford, Future Products Design Lead for Open Innovation, NatWest
- Rachel England, Events & Project Manager, FinTech North
- Keith Moran, CTO, CubeMatch
- Laura Mott, Business Engagement Manager, University of Manchester
- Elaine Mullan, Head of Marketing & Business Development, Corlytics
The strength of the ecosystem coming together to support this initiative has been one of the highlights of the programme. Having such a knowledgeable panel give their time and feedback made the day, and it’s fantastic to see the wider ecosystem getting involved and backing the businesses in the room.
Congratulations to FinProxy, our Innovation Challenge winner!
FinProxy, led by Rich Wainwright, Founder & CEO, was named winner of the Challenge following a fantastic showcase from all eight finalists. As winners, they will receive a year’s partnership with FinTech North, along with a bespoke bilateral meeting to open doors with the bank. This includes a 60-minute virtual session with NatWest’s Open Innovation team, including their director and leadership team, to pitch their proposition, receive feedback and insights, and gain practical advice on how to successfully engage and work with a large organisation like NatWest. We’re really excited to collaborate with FinProxy, a business focused on financial inclusion, which is a crucial topic for the sector.
The Impact
- For FinTechs: real-world problem statements, direct access to NatWest experts, structured mentorship and a route to commercial validation
- For NatWest: access to emerging innovation and structured engagement with high-quality FinTech firms
- For the Ecosystem: a stronger, more connected Northern FinTech community, with participants and partners joining from across the UK and beyond.
Thank You
A huge thank you to NatWest for their partnership, mentorship and support, to every workshop facilitator and speaker who gave their time, to our judges, and most of all to the businesses who brought the energy and ideas. This is only the beginning of what we can achieve together, and we can’t wait to build on it.
For more information and for opportunities for collaboration, please reach out to us at info@fintechnorth.uk
