Ever find yourself wondering how a startup makes the difficult decision to embark on the scale up journey? Is there a blueprint to success? Will it be obvious when your startup should begin scaling up?
Here at TechSPARK, we thought the best way to illustrate the answers to these common questions would to create a series of Scale Up Stories, featuring some of the South West’s most successful Scale Ups. Next up we have Moneyhub, here to tell us a bit about their journey.
Moneyhub is divided into two initiatives. For personal and consumer use, their handy app allows you to access all your accounts securely in one place. Their enterprise services offer this too, whilst also giving you a platform to truly understand and engage your customers through powerful analytics and smart, actionable insights.
Ingrid Anusic, Marketing Director at Moneyhub, tells us, “Back in 2014, the team were frustrated by how difficult it was for consumers to access and interact with their financial data.
“From this frustration, Moneyhub – an app that shows all financial data in one central location covering pensions, mortgages, loans, investments, savings, properties, current accounts and more – was born. Today, our market-leading Open Finance data, intelligence and payments platform is key to unlocking secure, controlled and highly detailed data for the good of all.”
She adds, “We’re on a mission to improve financial wellbeing, and our technology has enabled consumers and customers of B2B clients to make informed financial decisions and achieve better financial outcomes. Our clients include startups, fintechs, banks, building societies, financial advisers, employee benefits companies and businesses outside of financial services.”
When did Moneyhub begin the transition from startup to scaleup?
We started our scaleup journey almost as soon as we won our first client – chiefly because the next one arrived at the very same time! Many of our clients are blue chip companies, and some have been burnt by working with startups before, so we were determined not to be seen as another ‘flaky fintech’ – our team are all so proud of what we’ve achieved together.
What was the biggest challenge to scaling up?
We imagine this answer is very common amongst startups, but hiring the right people is often a big challenge – and we are certainly no different. But the even bigger challenge is hiring the right people at the right time.
It’s easy to hire too fast and suddenly lose the ability to focus on what’s important. Equally, waiting too long to hire and not having the capacity to deliver on a big opportunity is just as frustrating. This is why we’re focusing on developing our team in the right way, nurturing our culture, and ensuring all staff feel connected and communicated to – something which is especially important in these days of remote working. We feel if we keep getting these three things right, then scaling a business is much easier.
What has been a defining moment in Moneyhub’s scaleup journey?
There are several milestones to choose from, but really, the first client – and every single client since – are very special to us all at Moneyhub.
Why is the South West a good region to scale up in?
We rely on the expertise and passion of our people. Our technical team is led by postgraduates from the University of Bristol, and our dedicated and driven team are largely drawn from the local talent pool. We aim to attract the best and brightest from an area where we can truly champion diversity, provide an attractive and flexible work/life balance and scale-up more economically than in London or elsewhere.
The thriving and multicultural city of Bristol provides the infrastructure needed for a fast-growing tech company, including great national and international transport links, and some of the leading STEM universities in the country, particularly in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Data Security. As a company with creativity running through our veins, having a strong music and arts scene within the city, alongside inspirational countryside on our doorstep, is very important to us. We can’t imagine being anywhere else and believe the question should actually be: ‘Why not Bristol’?
What would be your key piece of advice for startups considering taking on the scale up process?
Let your friends and family know what they are in for in advance, get advice from your network and just go for it – we doubt you’ll regret it!
Thanks to Moneyhub for taking the time to talk to us about your scale up journey! Check out their website for more information on their services, or to keep up with their latest news, give them a follow on Twitter here: @MoneyhubEnterpr & @MoneyhubApp.
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