Fintech Hope Macy has secured £1.5m in seed investment to support the roll-out of its regulated open banking and AI platform to counter the growing problem of financial vulnerability.
The funding has come from the Development Bank of Wales and angel investors.
Hope Macy, which is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and based at Tramshed Tech in Newport, has created an integrated technology platform consisting of three core products, including DataFlex that searches a consumer’s financial data, and then uses analytics to identity reasons for vulnerability.
Its credit reference service Affordwise generates a financial analysis report used to assist the consumer obtain affordable credit, arrange debt repayments, or find alternative sources of income. The firm’s Family Connect product is an automated assistant system that look-out for financial transactions or trends that could consumers. If a potential problems are identified, a family member is notified.
The platform is already in production across a number of lenders and debt management firms in the UK. One such firm, Adage Credit, has implemented the technology to enable it to credit assess low-income people who have no credit file, by using just a bank account. Using the Hope Macy platform, it can assess a borrower’s credit risk in seconds. For Adage Credit, this increases the number of people who can get credit and at the same time reduce risk.
Hope Macy chief executive, Sam Manning, said: “We understand the financially vulnerable like no one else. We have engaged with regulators, lenders, and borrowers to create a platform that meets the needs of this under-served eco-system. Using our technology, we are proud of what we have delivered and how consumers are benefiting from it”.
Jack Christopher, investment executive at the Development Bank of Wales, said: “We’re thrilled to be a part of Hope Macy’s journey with our investment – Sam and Graham will continue to innovate within the consumer credit space to produce solutions that will tangibly help those who are in most need gain access to credit fairly and affordably.
“We’re here not just to get finance to businesses, but also to help innovators who create products that are going to make a positive impact in people’s lives– not just here in Wales, but across the United Kingdom. The new platform developed will be of genuine benefit to financial institutions that need to comply with the FCA’s newly-introduced consumer duty regulations. We look forward to seeing their new platform go from strength to strength.”
