Name: From Vision to Reality – How it all began
Uploaded: 2024-05-08T10:39:13.446Z
Duration: 280.76
Description: Fintech Founders explores curating a start up and making a vision a reality with our experts Henry Orunkoya, Founder, Wollette, Petr Kozyzkov, Co-Founder & CEO, Mercuryo,Matt Ford, Co-Founder & CEO, Sidekick and Andrew Martin, Founder & CEO, SMEB.

1. From Vision to Reality.mp4

1. From Vision to Reality.vtt

ENGLISH

{{00:00:09}}
The finding of Wallet is
actually a very interesting one.

{{00:00:11}}
So I remember going to Tesco's to shop, we
went to buy bread, myself and my son, and

{{00:00:18}}
when we got to the checkout, the till was
asking if I wanted a receipt, and it just

{{00:00:25}}
I was taken aback, I was thinking this is
the 21st century, we have a space station

{{00:00:30}}
in space, literally, and I'm still being
asked if I would like to collect PayPal.

{{00:00:35}}
To prove my purchase.

{{00:00:38}}
But that wasn't what
actually got me ticked off.

{{00:00:40}}
What got me very upset was the
fact that I forgot my club card at

{{00:00:43}}
home and I couldn't collect points.

{{00:00:45}}
So I went to them and I said,
I'm going to solve this problem.

{{00:00:48}}
I'm going to create a platform to
allow you to collect club card just by

{{00:00:51}}
swiping your credit card or whatnot.

{{00:00:54}}
And I realized that, no,
that's not a good idea.

{{00:00:57}}
It's not going to work.

{{00:00:58}}
So I went back to my day job.

{{00:01:00}}
Then, I was watching Arirang, which
is a Korean TV channel, in 2022, and I

{{00:01:06}}
turned to my son and I said, I'm going
to build what those guys are talking

{{00:01:10}}
about, which is basically a digital
receipts platform that helps to reduce

{{00:01:15}}
environmental damage created by receipts
and also helps to improve the interaction

{{00:01:22}}
between customers and merchants.

{{00:01:24}}
And my son turned around and said
to me, But you always say you gotta

{{00:01:26}}
build something and you never do.

{{00:01:28}}
And that was the the moment
I realized I had to do it.

{{00:01:33}}
And the next day, we
registered the company.

{{00:01:36}}
Within a week, we started, and
we've been going ever since.

{{00:01:41}}
The idea to build Mercurio came as,
we, saw a lot of opportunity in crypto.

{{00:01:49}}
I have been doing online
payments for more than 15 years.

{{00:01:52}}
I had the, online payment experience.

{{00:01:56}}
Processing company previously, and
we saw a lot of demand for having

{{00:02:01}}
a solution that allows us to set
payments for crypto projects.

{{00:02:05}}
And there were no such
solutions on the market.

{{00:02:08}}
We decided that we should use all our
experience to have a solution easy to

{{00:02:16}}
integrate and working at the same time.

{{00:02:20}}
Compliant rules as we saw it in FinTech.

{{00:02:26}}
Sidekick's only been around several
years, but myself and my co founder,

{{00:02:29}}
we founded it because of this huge
problem that we spotted, which was

{{00:02:33}}
the inequity of wealth creation.

{{00:02:35}}
If you have a look at how our parents
built wealth, it was very different.

{{00:02:38}}
They bought a house, they got a
mortgage, life was a lot more linear,

{{00:02:41}}
life was a lot more straightforward.

{{00:02:43}}
But for our generation, bridging that
wealth gap is increasingly challenging,

{{00:02:47}}
and if you have a look at how the
wealthiest in society build their

{{00:02:50}}
wealth, they use private banks, they
have family offices, they have experts

{{00:02:54}}
managing their money, they have access
to alternative investments and a variety

{{00:02:58}}
of uncorrelated asset classes, but the
rest of us, we don't have access to that.

{{00:03:03}}
And this problem of how do we create
and how do we build wealth and how do we

{{00:03:07}}
navigate life and really build forward.

{{00:03:10}}
Whilst at the same time not having
access to the right products to

{{00:03:13}}
be able to do that, is the burning
problem that we really wanted to solve.

{{00:03:17}}
So Scikit was created
to solve that problem.

{{00:03:20}}
We're trying to build a private wealth
platform for the mass affluence segment

{{00:03:25}}
to help unlock a lot of the products
and services that have historically

{{00:03:28}}
just been the privilege of the ultra
wealthy and bring those to a much broader

{{00:03:32}}
audience who need them and really want
to grow and move their lives forward.

{{00:03:36}}
Basically, during COVID, we saw a change
in the usage of cash in society and that

{{00:03:43}}
triggered us to recognize that there were
strategic changes in the marketplace.

{{00:03:48}}
Trends we saw changing was the retail
banks were closing bank branches

{{00:03:52}}
at a rapid pace, which was removing
support to SMEs in rural locations.

{{00:03:58}}
Combine that with the fact that we saw
the FinTechs attack the market, but they

{{00:04:02}}
were more attacking consumers, and we
didn't see any products coming into the

{{00:04:06}}
market for small and medium enterprises.

{{00:04:09}}
And then we also saw a
change in technology.

{{00:04:11}}
The UK government luckily regulated
open banking, And so we saw a

{{00:04:15}}
real future for embedded finance.

{{00:04:18}}
So basically we put the two
gaps in the market together,

{{00:04:21}}
combined with embedded finance.

{{00:04:23}}
And that allowed us to develop the
concept for SME to bring back banking

{{00:04:28}}
services and cash services for small and
medium enterprises in rural locations.

The finding of Wallet is
actually a very interesting one.

So I remember going to Tesco's to shop, we
went to buy bread, myself and my son, and

when we got to the checkout, the till was
asking if I wanted a receipt, and it just

I was taken aback, I was thinking this is
the 21st century, we have a space station

in space, literally, and I'm still being
asked if I would like to collect PayPal.

But that wasn't what
actually got me ticked off.

What got me very upset was the
fact that I forgot my club card at

So I went to them and I said,
I'm going to solve this problem.

I'm going to create a platform to
allow you to collect club card just by

And I realized that, no,
that's not a good idea.

Then, I was watching Arirang, which
is a Korean TV channel, in 2022, and I

turned to my son and I said, I'm going
to build what those guys are talking

about, which is basically a digital
receipts platform that helps to reduce

environmental damage created by receipts
and also helps to improve the interaction

And my son turned around and said
to me, But you always say you gotta

And that was the the moment
I realized I had to do it.

And the next day, we
registered the company.

Within a week, we started, and
we've been going ever since.

The idea to build Mercurio came as,
we, saw a lot of opportunity in crypto.

I have been doing online
payments for more than 15 years.

Processing company previously, and
we saw a lot of demand for having

a solution that allows us to set
payments for crypto projects.

And there were no such
solutions on the market.

We decided that we should use all our
experience to have a solution easy to

Sidekick's only been around several
years, but myself and my co founder,

we founded it because of this huge
problem that we spotted, which was

If you have a look at how our parents
built wealth, it was very different.

They bought a house, they got a
mortgage, life was a lot more linear,

But for our generation, bridging that
wealth gap is increasingly challenging,

and if you have a look at how the
wealthiest in society build their

wealth, they use private banks, they
have family offices, they have experts

managing their money, they have access
to alternative investments and a variety

of uncorrelated asset classes, but the
rest of us, we don't have access to that.

And this problem of how do we create
and how do we build wealth and how do we

Whilst at the same time not having
access to the right products to

be able to do that, is the burning
problem that we really wanted to solve.

So Scikit was created
to solve that problem.

We're trying to build a private wealth
platform for the mass affluence segment

to help unlock a lot of the products
and services that have historically

just been the privilege of the ultra
wealthy and bring those to a much broader

audience who need them and really want
to grow and move their lives forward.

Basically, during COVID, we saw a change
in the usage of cash in society and that

triggered us to recognize that there were
strategic changes in the marketplace.

Trends we saw changing was the retail
banks were closing bank branches

at a rapid pace, which was removing
support to SMEs in rural locations.

Combine that with the fact that we saw
the FinTechs attack the market, but they

were more attacking consumers, and we
didn't see any products coming into the

And then we also saw a
change in technology.

The UK government luckily regulated
open banking, And so we saw a

So basically we put the two
gaps in the market together,

And that allowed us to develop the
concept for SME to bring back banking

services and cash services for small and
medium enterprises in rural locations.

Fintech Founders

Expert Insight

Fintech Founders explores curating a start up and making a vision a reality with our experts Henry Orunkoya, Founder, Wollette, Petr Kozyzkov, Co-Founder & CEO, Mercuryo,Matt Ford, Co-Founder & CEO, Sidekick and Andrew Martin, Founder & CEO, SMEB.