Sweden has become the latest European country to move ahead with its Fintech efforts, helping promote domestic players and startups with the creation of a new physical platform in Stockholm, according to a recent KPMG report.
The latest effort will see the formation of a fully autonomous fintech platform in Stockholm, which can communicate and collaborate with the entirety of Sweden’s bourgeoning fintech ecosystem. The platform will act as an independent, not-for-profit innovation Hub , targeting a launch in Q1 2017.
The overall aim and goal of the new hub will be to promote the development of Sweden’s fintech network, as well as accelerating the traction and scope of insurtech and regtech startups operating in the country – the main players backing the initiative are Matthew Argent, partner at BLC Advisors, KPMG, NFT Ventures, and Invest Stockholm.
Growing Market in Sweden
The efforts in Sweden are also taking advantage of a growing interest in fintech not only on the domestic front but abroad too. Parallel efforts have already been seen in places such as the UK, Netherlands, and Germany, among others, with Stockholm-based companies securing 18% of all private placements in fintech companies across Europe – on a yearly basis, Sweden constitutes nearly 20% of fintech investments on the continent.
Matthew Argent
According to Matthew Argent, co-founder of the Stockholm FinTech Hub and partner at BLC Advisor, in a recent statement on the platform creation: “The ecosystem of FinTech-startups and high growth companies in Sweden is one of the best in the world. But to keep the excellent standards up in a global market we need to evolve the support ecosystem that supports these companies.”
“Stockholm has some exceptional ‘horizontal’ general tech co-working spaces, meetups, accelerators and investors. We are now at the stage where ‘verticalised’, specialised environments need to be created that allow FinTech founders and entrepreneurs access to a support system that can tackle the challenges and maximise the opportunities that are specific to FinTech companies,” he added.
