Alia and Lucas discuss how RegTech companies and AI have helped fintechs and the banking industry to scale whilst mitigating risks.  Alia explains the fundamentals behind the types of due diligence financial institutions are required to complete, what types of responsibilities institutions and compliance individuals face and the importance of ensuring that RegTech promotes financial inclusion.    

Alia is a qualified risk and compliance professional with over a decades' experience working with global financial institutions and Fintechs advising on legal, risk and compliance processes to deliver cross business innovative control solutions. 

Completing her undergraduate in Law from the London School of Economics and Legal Practice Course followed by a Masters of Law from BPP University, she started her career in criminal law as a trainee solicitor. With a mission to proactively disrupt organised crime and help reduce the myriad of financial crimes taking place, she transitioned to a career in financial crime and regulatory compliance working at Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Qatar National Bank,  Oaknorth, Revolut and Algbra, to be at the frontline in combating financial crime risks and safeguarding organisations and communities from being used and abused by organised crime groups. 

As part of the Global Regulatory Affairs team at ComplyAdvantage, Alia acts as an SME and Practice Lead to support the product, marketing and commercial teams strategise the building of world leading financial crime detection tools and is the 'voice of the customer' as Customer in Residence.

Alex discusses his latest project Appeggio, and how it was inspired by previous banking and IT experiences gained whilst building multiple neobanks and growing multiple traditional banks and corporations. Appeggio aims to democratise enterprise grade development for everyone, through its no-code platform, unlocking code reuse, multi-platform deployment and server-less infrastructure.

Together with Professors Breidbach and Joshi from UQ and Wake Forest Universities, respectively, he has continued research into the evolution of the Judo Bank, EaaS strategy, with particular emphasis on the ESG benefits. And building on his EaaS experience, together with cofounder James Ladd, is building Appeggio, an enterprise grade no-code platform, conceived to make everyday people application development superheroes, by delivering #experienceasaservice. Creating the freedom from the bottlenecks between designers, product owners and developers, to spend spend more time collaborating in meaning ways and providing everything you need to securely host, run and maintain your creation. Without ever having to ever know what a server is, or write a single line of code. Along the way Alex became a graduate member of the Australian Chartered Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia.

Jake and James discuss how they founded Epigroup and grew it to become a leading professional services firm. They discuss the importance of focusing on the how during project delivery, investing in the right employees and culture, as well as how they provide risk management and assurance services to help to improve health and safety in businesses in Australia.

David Foreman is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Praetura Ventures, the award-winning, Manchester-based VC which has raised £140m since 2019 and invested in 50 businesses to date. Outside of capital, Praetura Ventures is known for providing More Than Money to exceptional early-stage founders across tech and life sciences, including Northern success stories like Peak, Culture Shift, XR Games and BankiFi. An active and outspoken voice, David regularly provides comment and opinion on VC and is highly passionate about the North of England’s place on the global stage, often speaking to government and spearheading the region at major events. Outside of VC, David is also the co-founder of Praetura Group, which has grown to 150 people and £550m AUM and includes the Praetura Lending Division.

In 2022, Praetura Ventures published ‘What’s Powering the Powerhouse?’, a deep dive into the North of England’s funding landscape, as told by early-stage founders, investors and ecosystem champions in the region. The research presents the facts on funding in the North, with contributions from over 300 founders and stakeholders and words from the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Bruntwood, The Sunday Times, Bionow and a host of major contributors.

Download it for free here

Cam Sinclair founded Ammo, a fast-paced growth marketing team geared towards working with tech startups, after an extensive career in the political sphere.

Cam and Lucas discuss the similarities between marketing and political campaigning, diving into a number of different strategies that are used across both.

Benjamin Small, partner manager at Superscript, discusses his background in FX brokerage, how Superscript is creating value for VCs and tech firms, and all things partnerships! Lucas and Ben discuss the key success factors of a partnership, how partnerships differ depending on who they are e.g. high-net worth advisor vs. influencer and Ben provides a few key tips for people hoping to get into partnerships.

James D'Mello discusses how he manages investor relations in his role as Head of Strategic Partnerships at Fuel Ventures.  James and Lucas discuss the different types of VC funding available for founders (tranched and up-front), the type of due diligence that investors conduct on funds and their portfolio companies, as well as the process behind building a funnel and network.   

Clara Probert and Pauline Li, co-founders of Madonna Capital, share their stories and how they came together to focus on bridging the gender funding gap.  Female founders receive between 1-2% of VC funds in the UK each year, slightly behind the US, leaving both markets with a long way to go.  Clara, Pauline and Lucas discuss how Madonna Capital helps prepare founders to be investor ready, post-transaction support in the form of fractional advisory and Madonna Capital's roadmap for 2023.  

Madonna Capital is a growth partner to high-growth businesses with a commitment to fair female representation in the executive team. The team brings extensive in-house experience across finance, banking, debt financing, strategy, and operations to help women overcome obstacles in the venture ecosystem and make progress towards closing the gender funding gap.  Clara Probert is a managing partner at Madonna Capital and a former banker with extensive experience in corporate banking, venture debt funds, and business strategy.  Pauline Li is a Managing Partner at Madonna Capital, with over 16 years of experience as a Chartered Accountant and fractional CFO. Pauline has advised and worked in various sectors such as financial services, luxury consumer, energy, and media across APAC, North America, and the UK.

Ahmet and Lucas discuss private equity from sourcing deals to engaging advisors during the due diligence process and the different reasons companies would consider it as a source of funding as opposed to other methods such as venture capital, listing on an exchange and taking loans from banks.  They also dive into different use cases for private equity in developed and emerging markets. 

Dr. Ahmet Erelcin has over 30 years experience in the financial services industry, having held multiple roles at leading firms including having led HSBC Turkey’s brokerage arm and having set up its private equity fund. Ahmet is now a board member at Andalou Hayat Emeklilik and is a lecturer at Koç University.  

Firat Gonen discusses all things data science, and his journey from completing his PhD to founding his own startup, leading data at Turkish super app Getir, Allianz and Vodafone.  Firat and Lucas dive into the importance of commercial acumen for data scientists and data acumen for commercial teams, the different types of coding languages that exist, why real-time data isn't always achievable and the emerging influence of ChatGPT.