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Are you a Company Director? This is important! Change is coming to the way every UK company engages with Companies House and this will affect you. From 18𝐭𝐡 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 2025, a new layer of identity verification comes into force under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act. I'm not sure this change has been well sign-posted so please share this with your networks. The goal is simple: build trust in the register and strengthen the integrity of UK business. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭? ➡️ Every director, person with significant control (PSC) of a UK Limited Company will need to complete an identity verification process. ➡️ For new directors, this will be mandatory at the point of incorporation or appointment. ➡️ For existing companies, verification will be required by the time of your next confirmation statement or any engagement with Companies House, eg. setting up a new company. Don't give yourself an unnecessary headache, get this done today. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 You’ll be able to verify your identity in one of two ways: ➡️ Directly through GOV.UK One Login (an example of GovTech in action) or ➡️ Through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) – for example, your accountant, solicitor, or company formation agent, who should be able to complete the verification on your behalf. I verified directly myself by setting up a GOV.UK account and downloading the app. The process is a little clunky but it worked, just make sure you have you passport handy. Once verified, you’ll receive a Companies House personal code confirming your status. This code will be required for any filing, such as director appointments or confirmation statements. So don't lose it! 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 This is not just another compliance hurdle. It’s part of a wider effort to: ➡️ Make UK corporate ownership more transparent. ➡️ Deter fraudulent appointments and shell companies. ➡️ Increase confidence for investors, partners, and government bodies working with UK firms. ➡️ Digitise our engagement with the state and thus make the whole process more straight forward. NB. from November 2025, unverified individuals cannot be appointed as directors. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐰? If you are a company director it's mandatory so get it out of the way now before you end up rushing this as you hit a Companies House compliance deadline. You never know what hick-ups or additional checks you may need to go through when verifying so it just makes sense to get this done immediately. Good luck and be sure to share with any entrepreneurs you work with as they may have missed this. #Director #Company #GovTech

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Monzo Bank's £21M fine highlights key lessons in financial controls: 😳 Fines can be HUGE — and come years later (this one hit 5–7 years after the issue). 📈 Fast growth ALWAYS outpaces your internal systems. 🤖 Automate ROUTINE checks to free up experts for real risk analysis and audits. At Intrepid Fox, we help automate key tasks like proof of address checks - in real time.

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📣 VCs! Does your deal flow funnel look a bit..... homogenous? With only 2% of UK VC funding going to all-female teams and less than 0.5% going to black founders - and nearly half of all capital going to companies based in London - we thought we would put together a few suggestions based on recommendations from reports looking at increasing diversity at the top of the funnel. If your top of funnel isn’t diverse, it’s rarely because diverse founders don’t exist. It’s because many quietly self-select out. A few practical ways to widen the funnel: 🗣️ Use inclusive, specific language (clarity beats vague “exceptionalism”) 🚪 Be accessible with clear contact routes, open applications or office hours 📜 Signal commitment (e.g. Investing in Women Code, Diversity VC certification) 👭 Diversify sourcing beyond the usual universities, networks and accelerators 👥 Build balance into teams, panels and visible moments 🧰 Offer support beyond capital at the top of the funnel 📊 Track who enters your funnel and make DEI part of how you operate You don’t need to lower standards — you need to remove unnecessary friction. You can’t invest in founders you never meet. Full piece here: https://lnkd.in/eDwsgWf7 With thanks to the Invest in Women Hub, Invest in Women Taskforce, Diversity VC, UK Private Capital, European Women in VC, Level 20, Extend Ventures, The Table, Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, Ada Ventures, Astia, Alma Angels, Social Mobility Ventures, Bethnal Green Ventures, Unconventional Ventures, Sie Ventures, Black Seed VC, Startup Discovery School, Climate Mosaic, Women in Cleantech and Sustainability, Sophie Purdom and Ramsay Siegal for your research, support and leadership. #VC #Cleantech #Climatetech #ZeroCarbon #Diversity #Inclusion

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Monzo Bank’s 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. The 2025 annual report says a lot - but it’s what sits beneath the numbers that really matters. There’s no showmanship, no product theatre. Just a 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬 into software. You can tell the team isn’t chasing growth at any cost. They’re paying attention to how money moves through people’s lives - the friction, the hesitation, the second-guessing - and designing with those behaviours in mind. Not to nudge harder, but to nudge better. There’s no gimmicky engagement loop here. Just systems that reward consistency, guide decision-making, and 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲. A few examples that stand out: ▪️ A 1𝐩 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 that turned 1.4 million users into daily savers. ▪️Credit products like 𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 that unlock gradually, only with repayment discipline ▪️𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫16𝐬 built to encourage financial autonomy from an early age ▪️𝐒𝐌𝐄 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 that makes compliance and operations less reactive, more embedded ▪️𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬 used by 70,000+ people - with cool downs that stretch across months ▪️A built-in flow to 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 without shame or paperwork A philosophy runs through the report - that money is not only managed, it’s practised. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬. If you’re building for behaviour, the report is worth your time. https://lnkd.in/gZnA4byU #monzo

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After founding RiseUp in 2017 and growing to serve 100,000+ consumers..we’re now scaling through partnering with banks and financial institutions in the UK. Not a lot of B2C companies add a B2B2C motion… it’s rare. But we have - and here’s the inside scoop on how (and why) we made the shift: Some background on me: I grew up in a modest home outside Tel Aviv. My father was a production line worker at a heavy metal factory and my mother stayed at home with us. After selling my first startup to Klarna in 2011, I joined the company as Chief Product Officer and later served as CTO. Those years taught me how to build financial infrastructure at scale. But when I returned to Israel, I wanted to solve a deeper, more personal problem: To help build something that would actually help people feel in control of their financial lives. I partnered with Iftach Bar, a brilliant engineer, and Tamara Harel-Cohen, talented veteran of the media world. Together, we built RiseUp to give people something most fintechs overlook: timing, relevance, and real-world financial action. And it worked. People saved more. Paid down debt. Made smarter choices. We built trust. We built momentum. But over time, we noticed something: We realised that if we really wanted to scale our impact, we couldn’t do it alone. We had to go where the financial decisions were already happening: inside banks, platforms, and institutions. That’s where the data lived. That’s where the journeys started. And that’s where the biggest opportunity was to drive change at scale. So we made a strategic decision: → Stop building AROUND the system → Start building WITHIN it That’s how RiseUp evolved - from a consumer product to a platform powering banks and financial institutions. Now we help banks, trading apps and other financial institutions activate their customers in smarter ways: - Based on real financial triggers - Without a full integration - With business impact in 30 days Same mission: better financial outcomes. Different distribution model. The results have been surprising - in a good way. It turns out when you meet people through the institutions they already rely on, everything moves faster: trust, adoption, outcomes. The piece below shares more about what we’ve been building - quietly - for the last 12 months: How AI + open banking + behavioural design can actually move the needle. And why we believe financial institutions can be part of the solution - if they’re equipped with the right tools. Grateful to the team, partners, and believers who helped us make this shift real. Curious to hear what you think! Read the article: https://lnkd.in/d-8itEf3

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🚀 “We’ll go toe-to-toe with any legacy bank on banking—and win with tech.” — TS Anil CEO, Monzo Bank At #Money2020Europe this morning Anil unpacked how a home-built, micro-services stack lets Monzo process 16.6 bn GBP in deposits and launch features like Stand-In (zero downtime) & the one-pound Investment Hub. 📱💸 With 2.4 m new users last year—two-thirds by word of mouth—the UK’s 7th-largest bank is eyeing Europe via Ireland and scaling its US beta. Key takeaway for fintech builders: resilience + rapid product velocity isn’t a “nice to have”; it’s the differentiation moat incumbents can’t copy-paste. #Fintech #BankTech #CloudNative #DigitalBanking #Money2020 The CFO

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🚨 Day 2 of Building My Product Portfolio Product Space 🔍 Rethinking Bill Payments — It's Not a Tech Problem. It’s a Trust Problem. Most people think first-time users abandon bill payments on apps because the UI is messy or the steps are unclear. But what if… the real problem isn’t confusion? 👉 It’s fear of losing money into a black hole. Today, as part of the Product Portfolio Sprint by Product Space, we did what every good PM should: Step back and ask better questions. And what we uncovered changed everything ⬇️ 🎯 Initial Problem: “First-time UPI users abandon bill payments because the process feels confusing and risky.” 🧠 What we actually learned: Our target users aren’t total newbies. They already use UPI — just not for bills. They freeze when the app asks for random details (like CA number, account ID, etc.) they don’t recognize or trust. One user literally said: 💬 “I’d rather NOT pay than accidentally send money into a void.” 🤯 That’s not a tech hurdle — that’s a trust gap. 📉 If we don’t solve this, these users go back to long queues, paper bills, or worse — give up on digital payments altogether. ✅ Next Step: We’re breaking down where existing apps lose trust — and how to build confidence, not just convenience. 💬 How do you define a user problem clearly — without jumping to the solution? Drop your thoughts below 👇 📌 Follow me for the rest of this 5-day product case study. Let’s learn real-world product thinking — together. #ProductManagement #UXResearch #BuildInPublic #ProductDesign #ProductPortfolio #UPI #TrustInTech #ProductSprint

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Most product career advice focuses on execution. That’s rarely the thing that holds people back. I had a great conversation this week with Jane Austin about product career progression, and one point really stuck with me. A lot of product impact lives in things that don’t always show up neatly in a roadmap or metric. Decisions not taken. Risks avoided. Clarity created. Alignment across teams. If you don’t find ways to articulate that, it’s easy for your contribution to be under-represented, even when outcomes are strong. It’s made me think more deliberately about how I talk about my work, what I want to be known for, and how I show up as a product leader. Curious how others approach this. How do you make your impact visible without it feeling awkward or forced?

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eBay has launched “AI activate”, a new program worth  £3 million to help 10,000 small UK businesses compete more effectively. It offers free access to ChatGPT Enterprise for up to 12 months, plus custom bots that create listings, reply to customers, and analyze performance. The goal is clear: help small businesses save time and compete with larger retailers. Something that, until now, seemed almost impossible. And this isn’t an isolated move. As you know, ChatGPT recently announced integrations with Shopify and Etsy, letting users discover and buy products directly through AI. The pattern is evident: AI is becoming a new layer of commerce, where growth, discovery, recommendation, and purchase all happen inside the model. For smaller brands, it’s a real chance to be relevant and compete broadly Read the full article - https://lnkd.in/d4MjbTKa

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Despite the implementation of new APP fraud rules last year, the issue continues to plague financial services. Losses from people being tricked into transferring money to fraudsters increased by 12% in the first half of this year, totalling £257.5 million, according to data from UK Finance. These numbers are far too high. Fraud has a devastating impact on victims’ lives. We have spoken to customers who have described how the scams have affected not just their finances but their relationships and mental health. The industry needs to go further to tackle this issue, which is something I have been very vocal about. In particular, with two-thirds of APP fraud cases starting online, social media giants must do more to prevent scams and be held accountable for doing so. As I highlighted in my interview in The i Paper earlier this year, social media platforms have shown they can’t be trusted to address the problem. Regulators must act before the numbers go up even further. https://lnkd.in/esniYwst

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𝐕𝐂 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 If you’re negotiating your next term sheet, this is the market compass you need. HSBC Innovation Banking’s 2025 guide distills insights from 588 real VC deals, covering 33% of the UK venture market by volume and 40% by value. Key Takeaways: 1️⃣ Founder-friendlier terms are rising – Especially in AI, where 95% of term sheets now feature non-participating preferences, and vesting schedules are becoming more flexible. 2️⃣ Later-stage deals are shifting – Series C+ rounds saw a rise in investor-friendly terms: more participating preferences, lower valuations, and tighter control. 3️⃣ ESG & DEI are holding – 26% of term sheets now include sustainability or diversity clauses, even as the US narrative cools off. PS. check out 🔔 for a winning pitch deck the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel https://lnkd.in/ejp-Bhnu

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Monzo Bank dials in: banking meets mobile at MVNO speed Monzo is preparing a UK mobile service, moving beyond current accounts to tackle a real consumer pain point, opaque, lock‑in phone contracts, by operating as an MVNO rather than building its own network. The bank confirms it is at an early stage, but the direction is clear: a digital SIM‑led offer for a customer base that now tops 13 million, underpinned by a balance sheet with £16.6 billion of deposits as of FY2025. In a year when MVNOs added users while the big networks lost them, the timing looks deliberate: switching is simpler, eSIM is mainstreaming, and new Ofcom rules have outlawed inflation‑linked mid‑contract price rises, making transparent pricing a genuine differentiator. The playbook mirrors a broader European trend: Revolut has moved from travel eSIMs to full mobile plans; Klarna launched a US unlimited plan with an MVNO partner and is eyeing the UK and Germany; N26 has already switched on eSIM‑only plans running on Vodafone’s network in Germany. If Monzo follows suit, it will lease capacity from an incumbent (EE, Virgin Media O2 or Vodafone Three) and bundle mobile neatly into a product suite that already monetises engagement via paid subscriptions. The strategic logic is to deepen daily relevance, smooth churn, and open a non‑interest revenue line that complements interchange and lending, without taking on radio‑access capex. The risk is executional: MVNO margins are thin, customer support expectations are high, and pricing mis‑steps are punished quickly in a market reshaped by the Vodafone‑Three merger and faster switching. TS Anil Anne Boden Conor Walsh Amy Kirk Andy Smart Kunal Malani Richard Evetts Pui-Ming Chow Kiki Loizou Scott Eblen Spyros Kotoulas Neil Kelley Tara Ryan Dror Brook Kate Flanagan Daniel Bennett Ash Sampat 📊 Himesh Bilimoria Matej Pfajfar James Shafe Arundhathi Desai Jordan Shwide Andrew Pym Milo Thompson Rachel Walsh Binh Chu Gemma Beck Nima Zahedi AJ Coyne Marc Sfeir Kieran Macdonald Hall Cat Daniel Vicky Ford David Bedford Karen Tiltman Andy Sacre Catherine Moyer Candice Macdonald Emma Raye #Fintech #Monzo #MVNO #UK #eSIM #Ofcom #DigitalBanking

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