I attended a Competition and Market Authority (CMA) sponsored Nesta Fintech Innovation Challenge in Manchester earlier this year.
Funding of £5M and access to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory sandbox was on offer to 50 successful applicants.
It was a popular event, with dozens of people in attendance representing Fintech startups from across the North West of England.
The company I was with missed out, which was disappointing at the time, but we moved on.
Yesterday, the FCA have produced an update report on the regulatory sandbox.
The report details the geographical breakdown of the 50 successful Nesta challenge companies.
Approximately 95% of funding had gone to Southern UK (65% to London) and International based entrants, with the remaining 5% allocation to Scotland and the East Midlands.
None of the companies at the meeting in Manchester received funding.
This surprises me given the level of attendance at the Manchester event.
Does this breakdown and allocation of funds really represent Fintech activity across the UK?
Are other factors at play?
I would welcome the thoughts of others.