BUSINESS REPORT TECH FIRM SWOOPS FOR AWARD


Swoop, a start-up funding solution aimed exclusively at SMEs, has been awarded £250k by Nesta’s ‘Open Up Challenge’. Commissioned by the UK’s


Competition and Markets authority, the Challenge marked a global search for innovative fintech ventures that would leverage open banking data to create additional finance options for SMEs and promote further competition in the market. Swoop, which was founded by


Andrea Reynolds and Ciaran Burke at the beginning of last year, is one of three companies to have been awarded in the final round of the 12-month long competition. The tech platform, which champions itself as a ‘one-stop, money shop’ currently supports SMEs to better understand and better access the broad and ever-changing funding landscape. Swoop acts as a virtual CF0 for


SMEs, enabling them to access every form of funding and saving in


EVENT COMPANY ON THE MOVE AGAIN


Event production company FoxWylie are on the move again, just a few short months after their last office move. The company is growing so fast


that it already needs a larger space at its Milton Keynes Business Centre base. Managing director


Jonny Fulton said: “We’re excited to announce that we have already outgrown the first office and moved into a larger space! We really enjoy being situated at the Milton Keynes Business Centre, so decided to stay here, and transfer to a larger office.” This move follows the arrival of


of events from conferences and exhibitions, to team building days and high-profile awards dinners. Jonny said: “The technical


‘WE HAVE ALREADY


OUTGROWN THE FIRST OFFICE AND MOVED INTO A LARGER SPACE’


production part of our business is still going strong, but with Lisa’s support, we have been able to offer more management services which have additional project


management resource. “We are also


increasing our


creative services, with more demand


for bespoke design and content creation from our


clients – as well as our ongoing


Lisa Jenkins (pictured), FoxWylie’s new project manager. Lisa has more than 12 years’ experience in the events industry, working on a range


video and animation work. As our business has grown, we also decided it was time for a website update.”


Visit the new site at www.FoxWylie.com


Founders Andrea Reynolds (third from left) and Ciaran Burke (second from left) and the Swoop team “The award not only highlights


one place. From March 2019, the CMA 9 Banks (AIB, Bank of Ireland, Barclays, Danske, Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest, RBS, Santander) will all send their business customers via Swoop when switching business current accounts.


Founder of Swoop Andrea


Reynolds said: “With exponential growth of our users and funding partners across the platform this year, the Open Up Challenge award is as motivating as it is rewarding.


Swoop as a valuable product with impressive growth potential, but it solidifies its noble purpose of supporting SMEs to navigate the ever-changing and often-turbulent funding arena.”


MILTON KEYNES IS LEAD-ING THE WAY


Milton Keynes is racing ahead in its quest to become the UK’s digital leader – with thousands of homes now able to connect to a new full fibre network. Made possible by an


investment of more than £40m from CityFibre, 2018 saw huge progress in the roll- out of the gigabit-speed network which now extends more than 350km from Bancroft, Blue Bridge, Bradville and Great Linford to Willen, Bletchley and Fenny Stratford. Upon completion in 2020, CityFibre’s network will be within reach of almost every home and business in MK – and the benefits are enormous. Full fibre is already supporting businesses to unlock greater innovation and productivity, while bolstering the city’s economic growth. It will drive MK’s growing reputation as a tech hub and underpin a range of new business ventures including new hotels and apartments, plus support plans for a new city university and Institute of Technology. Jean Gowin, CityFibre’s city development manager for Milton


Keynes, said: “Milton Keynes is rapidly growing as a city and we will be accelerating our full fibre project in 2019 to bring the transformative connectivity within reach of as many premises as possible. Full fibre is going to change the way we live, work and play – and I’m proud to see MK at the forefront of the digital revolution.”


Visit: www.cityfibre.com/milton-keynes Follow: @GigabitMK


APRIL/MAY 2019 inbusiness 5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28