Jul 7, 20213 min read

Ship Shape joins the Fintech Wales Foundry Accelerator

Updated: Oct 11, 2021

Ship Shape is proud to announce that as of the 5th July 2021, we are part of the first cohort to be launched for the Fintech Wales Foundry Accelerator.

“It’s a brilliant achievement for Ship Shape to be invited to take part in the inaugural Fintech Wales Foundry Accelerator. It’s recognition of the tremendous strides we are making as a business and we’re looking forward to making the most of what the Foundry has to offer."

- Daniel Sawko, CEO of Ship Shape

Over the past months, our CEO Daniel Sawko and COO, Alistair Ballie have been completing applications, interviews and demo that has led to Ship Shape being selected from over 150+ application worldwide to join the first cohort. This cohort comprises of 8 unique companies that all have a promise and potential to disrupt and change their respective industries. Alongside Ship Shape, the cohort is made up of Voltric, Sero, Zing Cover, Viaduct Group, Wagonex, Yimba and Laytrip. As the first cohort, we are excited to see each other grow and support each other to achieve our business goals.

“As the UK’s first non-equity accelerator programme, The Foundry will not only help to create jobs and nurture our existing ecosystem, it invites businesses globally to come and scale in Wales – bringing further jobs creation and growth to an already booming landscape”

- Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO of FinTech Wales

Jon Glen sitting down with some CEOs from the foundry

This unique no equity accelerator is driven by the recognised value in local Welsh fintech and the support and commitment they offer. With the support of multinational partners, Fintech Wales is striving to create a collaboratively rich ecosystem that will provide jobs, market service and investment formulating unmatched value on a local and national level.

The founding partners, Admiral Pioneer, Principality Building Society and Cardiff Capital Region have put together an unparalleled level of support with Google Cloud, Stripe, IBM, Deloitte, Capital Law, Tramshed Tech, EY, Salesforce, SeedLegals, Hubspot, Cardiff University, GlobalWelsh, Twilio, Consilium, BGF, Amazo

n Web Services, Angels Invest Wales, Cardiff Council, Innovate UK and the Welsh Government all providing expertise in their respected areas.

The program has been in development for some time, but with a recent independent publication that recognised Wales as one of the UK’s emerging Fintech hubs, the program has gained immense support and traction including from the UK government.

“Fintech is one of the UK’s great success stories thanks to forward-thinking firms that are innovating, creating quality jobs and shaping our economy for the future” “It’s great that this new accelerator will now give Cardiff’s promising fintech hub an extra boost and help to bring a bit more Silicon Valley to the Welsh Valleys”

- John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury,

The program will host workshops, office space, mentoring and development credits from the likes of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Stripe, Salesforce, Twilio, Hubspot and SeedLegals over the course of 12 weeks.

“I’m delighted that Ship Shape is part of the the Foundry’s first cohort, supporting and being supported by such a fabulous group of companies. This really shows again that Wales has the vision and capacity to lead Fintech in the UK and have a global presence.”

- Alistair Baillie, COO of Ship Shape

The team at Ship Shape are delighted to be a part of this program and the opportunity to learn, grow and connect with other great teams in Welsh Fintech.

For more information visit: Fintech Wales Foundry Website.