Copenhagen Fintech Successful Cluster Development
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Copenhagen Fintech Successful cluster development Practical inspiration to start-up driven cluster development 2021 A publication commissioned by The Danish Industry Foundation. Authored by EY www.industriensfond.dk www.copenhagenfintech.dk www.ey.com PREFACE The global competition for entrepreneurs and tech talent is fierce. It requires unique ecosystems to attract, retain and accelerate the next generation of groundbreaking ideas, if new start-ups are to grow and mature in Denmark. In just a few years, Copenhagen Fintech has become one of Europe’s leading clusters and incubation environments for FinTech start-ups. The ecosystem and the many FinTech start-ups create jobs and value in the financial sector while also contributing to the digitalization of the Danish business environment in general. The recipe for creating successful ecosystems is not clear- cut. This is also the case for Copenhagen Fintech. A strong and ambitious vision, commitment from multiple stakeholders and a lot of hard work from passionate people have been required to make Copenhagen Fintech a national business success. Ultimately creating the international attention and acknowledgement, which the FinTech Hub enjoys today. With experience comes new learnings and insights. For this reason, The Danish Industry Foundation has asked EY to examine Copenhagen Fintech’s development since its foundation back in 2016. The aim is to outline the fundamentals, which must be present to create a strong cluster, and to derive a set of normative guidelines. These are meant to serve as inspiration on to how build successful ecosystems and future national strongholds. It is our hope that this publication and the set of recommendations will inspire the development of new generations of tech leaders in Denmark, and thereby help strengthen the competitiveness of the Danish industry and business environment. Thomas Hofman-Bang The Danish Industry Foundation 2 CASE-IN-POINT 9 GUIDES WHAT’S NEXT? OVERVIEW OF CONTRIBUTORS Ulrik Nødgaard** Frederik Murmann* Dorte Bech Vizard Finance Denmark LendMe Ministry of Foreign Affairs CEO CEO & Founder Director, Taskforce for Export and Job Creation Kent Petersen* Charlotte Rønje* Financial Services Jamii Katrine Winding Union Denmark CEO & Co-Founder The Danish Business Chairman Authority Jesper Nielsen Director Lars Frelle-Petersen* BEC Confederation of CEO Jes Broeng Danish Industry DTU Entrepreneurship Director Ashok Kalyanswamy Director and Professor Saxo Bank Peter Schleidt* CIO Itay Zetelny Jyske Bank EY Director Christian Peter Kromann Senior Manager SimCorp Steen Erichsen* COO Christopher Schmitz Velliv EY-Parthenon CEO Emil Fuglsang Partner Matter Rolf Kjærgaard* COO & Co-Founder Varun Mittal Vaekstfonden EY-Parthenon CEO Anders Hartmann Partner NORD Investments CEO & Founder *Member of Copenhagen Fintech’s Board of Directors **Chairman of Copenhagen Fintech’s Board of Directors Methodological considerations This publication and its findings are based on a single case study – the journey and experiences of Copenhagen Fintech from start to present day. The objective has been to explore and identify the key factors that have collectively contributed to the successful development of a start-up driven FinTech cluster in Denmark. The recommendations set forth in this publication serve as inspiration for others to consider. EY has been responsible for the initial research and the end-to-end write-up of the publication. EY has engaged with the Copenhagen Fintech leadership team in several indepth interviews throughout the research process to capture the important dynamics of the case from their perspective. These dialogues have been complemented by more than 20 interviews with stakeholders who are or have been close to Copenhagen Fintech, including the current Board of Directors. See the full overview of contributors above. Additionally, EY has analyzed data shared by Copenhagen Fintech and others to generate insights with help from EY’s FinTech subject matter experts, who have provided perspectives on what it takes to build thriving and effective fintech ecosystems. 3 CASE-IN-POINT 9 GUIDES WHAT’S NEXT? TABLE OF CONTENT Chapter CASE-IN-POINT: COPENHAGEN FINTECH The untapped potential .............................................................................. 10 01 Learnings from a pioneer .......................................................................... 11 A ‘New Nordic’ Approach ........................................................................... 12 Timeline of milestone events .................................................................. 13 By-the-numbers ............................................................................................. 15 Copenhagen Fintech in a nutshell ....................................................... 16 Start-up driven clusters ............................................................................. 18 Chapter 9 GUIDES TO DEVELOP START-UP DRIVEN CLUSTERS 9 GUIDES ............................................................................................................ 21 02 Guide #1: Create a magnetic vision .................................................... 22 Guide #2: Define what makes a success ........................................ 24 Guide #3: Become the natural epicenter ....................................... 26 Guide #4: Get commitment through funding................................ 28 Guide #5: Become a mediator and broker .................................... 30 Guide #6: Build your community and followership .................... 32 Guide #7: Build a versatile and small team ................................... 34 Guide #8: Make communication a strategic priority ................ 36 Guide #9: Think and go global from the start .............................. 38 Evolution of activities, programs, and funding ............................. 40 Chapter WHAT’S NEXT FOR COPENHAGEN FINTECH Leading global practices ........................................................................... 43 Likely futures for Copenhagen Fintech ............................................. 46 03 Envisioning Copenhagen Fintech as a best-in-class cluster by 2030 ............................................................... 51 Navigating the document Click to go to another section in the document Click to go to an external link Use the top panel to navigate the document 4 CASE-IN-POINT 9 GUIDES WHAT’S NEXT? INTRODUCTION Start-up driven clusters help to enable more open innovation, create jobs, build spheres of interests, increase inflow of investments in specific sub-sectors, and support the overall development of healthy businesses - small and large. Copenhagen Fintech serves as the case- in-point for this publication and EY has been commissioned to draw learnings from their journey and experiences, for the readers to take inspiration from. Aiming to inspire readers based on Copenhagen Fintech’s practical learnings, this publication will set forth a set of recommendations on how to develop start-up driven clusters in a Danish context, fast. While the Copenhagen Fintech team has covered a lot of ground over a relatively short period of time, there is still potential to create an even stronger cluster. Consequently, this publication will also investigate what it could take for Copenhagen Fintech to become an even more significant FinTech Hub on the global FinTech scene in the future. 5 CASE-IN-POINT 9 GUIDES WHAT’S NEXT? OVERVIEW OF COPENHAGEN FINTECH’S GLOBAL CLUSTER RELATIONS Non-exhaustive overview 9 14 4 2 7 3 6 5 15 9 8 13 11 16 12 1 1 Singapore: Partnership with Singapore 9 Japan: Several delegations to Japan and Fintech Association – already in 2017 strong partnership with Japan FinTech Association, as well as collaboration with 2 : Nordic FinTech Alliance created Nordics Japanese corporates by FinTech associations in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark in 2019 10 Canada: Partnership with the Government of Ontario and later also partnership agreement Local investor matchmaking 3 London: with Corporate FS partner engagements with Nordic FinTechs and 12 UK partner VCs and CVCs 11 India: Several delegations to India and Sri Lanka official alliance with the government 4 Partnership with Innovate Finance UK: and Corporate FS stakeholders and ongoing relationship building to banks, investors and the wider UK FinTech 12 LATAM and Mexico: Collaboration with ecosystem Digital Bank LATAM, visits to Mexico, LATAM- stakeholders part of Global Advisory Board, Delegations to Tel Aviv 5 Israel/Middle East: and First Brazil Delegation expected in Q1 2021 and Ramallah and close ties and agreements with local FinTech associations and hubs, 13 Africa: Several visits from Central Bank investors, universities, and a Corporate FS of Kenya and an intend to join the Impact partner in Jordan Accelerator delegation planned for 2021 6 Europe: Several incoming and outgoing 14 New York: Several delegations to New York delegations to Polen, BeNeLux, Spain, French, and Boston and long-standing relationships Spain, and more. Partnerships with central with key stakeholders in the ecosystem Corporate FS stakeholders and part of the 15 Several delegations and Talent Route Silicon Valley: long-standing relationships with key 7 Russia: Ongoing collaboration with the stakeholders in the ecosystem Russian Embassy on delegation planning Partnership with the Fintech and bridgebuilding Europe-Russia fintech 16 Philippines: Philippines Association, in addition to Union connection Bank of Philippines