The fintech industry in Wales has significant potential for growth beyond British borders, and for Welsh Fintech companies to realise this potential, support in the form of global investment can be immensely valuable, but the question of how to attract these types of investors can be difficult to answer.
Business News Wales has previously reported on Coincover, a Cardiff-based global platform, providing industry-leading protection and insurance-backed guarantees for cryptocurrency investors, and their recent achievement of raising $9.2 million in Series A funding from leading fintech and crypto investors.
One of these investors included DRW Venture Capital, which is a subsidiary of Chicago-based DRW, a global principal trading firm that is active in markets around the world.
Business News Wales recently spoke to Kim Trautmann, Head of DRW Venture Capital, about its recent investment in Coincover, as well as addressing what potential the team looks for in fintech companies. We also asked Kim what advice she would give to other Welsh fintech companies looking for global investment:
When asked about what encouraged DRW Venture Capital to invest in Coincover, Kim said,
“We were impressed with the team and their background working on Security within the UK government, and recognized that they have a high-quality management team. One of the pieces that has been missing (from the cryptocurrency sector) is Coincover’s product, which gives assurance to investors that their money is safe, even if they lose their account information, misplace their phone or have some sort of security incident.”
When asked about what the company looks for in a potential fintech company investment, Kim explained,
“Generally, we are looking for companies that are making a meaningful impact by offering a very focused value proposition. We look for companies that, like Coincover, are doing something unique, have identified a clear problem set and have proven their ability to solve it.”
Kim emphasised that where a company is based isn’t particularly relevant to her. She noted that what she’s much more interested in is whether a company has taken a global view of both its customer and investor potential, can articulate clearly its value proposition and is building something where the company would benefit from the insights and expertise of DRW to grow to the next level. Her advice to start-ups is to have a global mindset from the start, as that will help build the relationships and insights to productively engage with a global investment community.
Concluding the interview, Kim had this advice for Welsh fintech companies looking for global investment,
“As you are initially building your business plan, think about who the best-case customers are for your company and with that, who the best investors would be.
Always think about how you want to build up your cap (capitalisation) table to include constituents that are meaningful to your businesses outside of just your local currency, these may be customers or funders with expertise in your space and building those relationships with those groups sooner rather than later is important, bring them along your story and to get them aligned with you.”
