Corporate Vision April 2017

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 7 NEWS , With Article 50 send- ing shockwaves through the industry, more than ever SMEs need advice on how to optimise their enterprises. 92% of the UK’s SMEs are trading within the EU single market, and over a fifth (21%) of Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) members employ EU citizens within the UK, making this a pivotal moment for many of these businesses. The Institute of Chartered Ac- countants for England and Wales (ICAEW) will be hosting the high- ly-anticipated SBAW seminar on Wednesday 30th August, with industry leaders providing insight and advice to the UK’s SME sec- tor. Clive Lewis from ICAEW explains “This year we have partnered with Small Business Advice Week to provide support and assurance to SMEs across the UK. We will be providing insight and advice into all things accountancy, showing you don’t need a team of in-house accountants to maximise the fi- nancial efficiency of your busi- ness.” With over 50% of SMEs using some form of cloud based soft- ware, and online growth becoming a priority, Barracuda Networks has partnered with SBAW to provide support to business owners who are journeying into the unknown when it comes to business tech. Barracuda has commented, “With so much on the line, and malicious software around every corner, we are delighted to be part of the solution when it comes to keeping SMEs secure online.” 9 Spokes will also be partnering with Small Business Advice Week, they enable SMEs to connect their software to one dynamic interface to give them a clear overview of their business. CEO Mark Estall comments, “Helping small busi- nesses to find and use tools to manage their businesses effec- tively is core to what we do and essential for growth. We’re looking forward to being part of SBAW and working with small businesses across the UK.” RateSetter is a peer-to-peer lend- ing platform which has lent more than £400m to British businesses. The platform gives SMEs a de- cision in principle within 2 hours for loans up to £100k and within 24 hours for loans above £100k. RateSetter’s Paul Marston said: “At Ratesetter we are immensely proud to provide guidance and support to SMEs daily, and we are looking forward to discussing the finance options available to the UK’s Small Business economy.” XLN’s Founder and CEO, Chris- tian Nellemann, added: “As a busi- ness that’s worked with more than 250,000 small businesses, we have a good idea of what can help them to grow. We’ve partnered with Small Business Advice Week to share that knowledge. We’ll be looking at practical, useable tips – everything from cutting costs to marketing on a budget.” Small Business Advice Week runs from the 4th -10th of September. Current partners available to pro- vide advice and support to SMEs across the UK are: About 9 Spokes: The 9 Spokes smart dashboard enables SMEs to connect their software to one dynamic interface - giving them a clear overview of their business. It allows management and advisors to access data and new metrics across key areas, from any device at any time. With these insights, it’s easier to make the big deci- sions to either manage or grow a business. Businesses can integrate their supported software into the dash- board as well as choose from a selection of recommended and accredited apps to suit their in- dustry. The smart dashboard from 9 Spokes is available as a direct model to small businesses and as a white labelled platform that Channel Partners can offer to their SME customer base. Research was conducted by FSB in the “WHAT SMALL FIRMS WANT FROM BREXIT” research report. www.fsb.org.uk/docs/de- fault-source/fsb-org-uk/fsb-brex- it-interim-survey-exec-summa- ry-jan-25-2017.pdf Quantexa Limited on 23rd March announced that it has closed a $3.3 million investment, led by Albion Ventures and HSBC. Quantexa’s rapid growth has underpinned a Series A fundraising within its first year, with the new capi- tal used to further accelerate product development and international ex- pansion. The investment will enable Quantexa to further accelerate the development of its revolutionary Entity Resolution and Network Analytics software, which has a unique ability to resolve entities and build networks in real time and batch, and further derive meaningful intelligence through AI and Machine Learning. The invest- ment will also be used to support Quantexa’s international expansion, with new offices in Brussels, Sydney and New York opening throughout 2017. Quantexa’s growth comes at a time when businesses are under in- creased pressure to optimise their use of data to combat financial crime challenges and improve the custom- er experience from both advanced analytics and AI. Industry analysts Forrester predicts that investments in AI will grow 300% in 2017 and Gartner forecasts that 50% of all an- alytical interactions will be delivered via AI in the next three to five years. The current market for advanced an- alytical service providers is estimated to be worth approximately $16bn. In addition, WealthInsight estimates that spending on AML compliance alone will total $8bn in 2017, growing at 9% pa. Vishal Marria, CEO, commented: “Driving intelligence from internal and external data is a constant challenge organisations face. At Quantexa we feel we have built the next genera- tion of Entity Resolution and Network Analytics software to support our cli- ents in dynamically building a truly 360-degree view of their clients and their network relationships. Our aim is to become the global leader in En- tity Resolution and Network Analytics and are delighted to have successful- ly completed this round of investment with HSBC and Albion Ventures. We look forward to working closely with our new investors in making this aim a reality by supporting our clients and partners.” Imam Hoque, COO and global head of product, commented; “Along with our investors / new partners, we are looking forward to accelerating our international footprint and scope of products to provide customers es- sential entity resolution and network analytics capability. This is crucial in driving real value from the artificial intelligence being deployed in their rapidly expanding data lake envi- ronments. We see significant growth potential as organisations evolve to make intelligent data driven deci- sions central to all their operations.” Ray O’Brien, HSBC’s global risk COO and head of global risk analyt- ics, said: “HSBC is constantly striving to improve the way we detect and prevent financial crime, and we are keen to explore technologies which help us build on existing capabilities. Quantexa has developed powerful applications of network analytics to this field, and we look forward to be- ing more closely associated with their future development.” Ed Lascelles, partner at Albion Ven- tures, commented: “Albion’s tech in- vestments are focused on digital B2B companies, with data analytics a core focus for us. What sets Quantexa apart is the team’s unrivalled domain expertise coupled with their cutting edge technical capability. They have a huge opportunity to build an indus- try-leading business and we look forward to supporting them on their journey.” www.quantexa.com Quantexa Raises $3.3m in Series A Within Its First Year, Led by Albion Ventures and HSBC