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The 2015 Fintech Finance 35: Lawrence Wintermeyer, Innovate Finance

No. 34

By Tyler Davies

November 09, 2015

< The 2015 Fintech Finance 35

Lawrence Wintermeyer

Chief Executive Officer

Innovate Finance

On July 30, London-based membership association Innovate Finance issued UK FinTech 2020, a manifesto for establishing Britain as “the undisputed center for financial services technology and innovation.” Prime Minister David Cameron weighed in that day with an endorsement of the plan, echoing sentiments voiced 11 months earlier by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne at Innovate Finance’s public launch. That kind of support is priceless for Lawrence Wintermeyer, 50, who as CEO of Innovate Finance since March is presiding over one of the fintech world’s most ambitious and aggressive advocacy organizations — an ecosystem in itself. Its formation last year, with funding from City of London Corp. and Canary Wharf Group, was “pretty prescient, looking at where fintech is now,” says Wintermeyer, a digital strategy expert who for the past seven years has run a private advisory business, Capstone Management. Innovate Finance bills itself as a bridge among commercial entities, regulators and policymakers, dedicated to smoothing the development and financing of fintech start-ups with a U.K. connection. “That lobbying is focused not just on political policy but on U.S. institutional venture capitalists to invest [in London], because most of our large institutional investors are U.S.-based,” Wintermeyer says. Innovate Finance holds so-called curated events to put entrepreneurs and their ideas in front of investors, and it stresses continuity. “Typically, hipsters go into an accelerator and get some money and coaching and end up at a demo day,” Wintermeyer says. “Quite often we’re the organization that’s around after that hoopla is over.” Earlier this year Innovate Finance created a membership category for pre–Series A start-ups. Other members include entrepreneurs, financial institutions and strategic partners such as incubators and accelerators. One of the last group is Level39, in London’s Canary Wharf district, launched with the help of Wintermeyer’s predecessor, Claire Cockerton, who is now chair and CEO of ecosystem consulting firm Entiq.

The 2015 Fintech Finance 35