Financial Technology in the UK Gets a Boost From Octopus Investments

August 23, 2016         By: Steven Anderson

Financial technology (fintech) doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. It’s the result of development, long hours and a whole lot of resources.

The problem in development often comes when trying to get the necessary resources for development, and that’s a point that Octopus Investments may be making just a little easier with a little something different in investment.

A common model when it comes to technology investment is the “accelerator investment” model, which works with other strategies to help bring startup investment in technology to the mainstream.

Organizations like Barclays have been said to use similar methods for some time now. Octopus’ methods, meanwhile, are a little different, launching what’s known as Octopus Labs to help drive development, and not just investment.

With Octopus Labs, the company is actually looking to build its own technology, with an eye toward supplying the market with products that simply aren’t there yet.

One big example of this is the Octopus Choice system, a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending system that fills in the gap in P2P lending.

Beyond that, the company’s also set to offer mentoring tools and London office space along with access to not only investment but also advisory services. The total program runs 12 weeks, and is set to kick off fully in October.

While this is an unusual way to engage in investment, it’s one of those situations where the means really don’t matter so much as long as the end result is achieved.

Whether the organization invests in other organizations or simply acquires the resultant technology or works with other firms to build material in-house, the end result is new technology making its way to market. That’s valuable, and that’s how an industry builds credibility in the marketplace.

Though Octopus Investments is doing something a bit unusual here with its Octopus Labs project, the important part is the material that’s released into the field.

With fintech in general on the rise and mobile payments right alongside it in terms of gains, it’s moves like Octopus’ that will ultimately power the next generation of materials and give us all new and exciting developments to look forward to.