Steve Pomfret, CEO and co-founder of Cygnetise, shares his experience of taking part in this year’s edition of the Mayor’s International Business Programme Fintech Trade Mission to the US.

It was a privilege taking part in the Mayor’s International Business Programme North American Fintech Trade Mission. Firstly, just to rub shoulders with some very talented and hardworking individuals who have all been on similar journeys to ours at Cygnetise.

Organised with military precision, we had a packed schedule whizzing around NYC, meeting and hearing from potential customers, partners and investors. The purpose was to aid growing our business on US soil, whether this be setting up an office, hiring local resource, learning selling techniques in the American market and getting our foot in the door with some very influential brands and people. We have to give a huge thank you to the organisers and all our hosts.

We experienced the plush offices of Mastercard and a hologram ATM, plus the impressive Microsoft NY headquarters in the Theatre District. We received a masterclass in US software sales from the brilliant Andrew Oddo at Silicon Valley Bank, featuring advice people would readily need to pay for.

Not many can say they have been to the executive meeting room floor at the top of the JP Morgan headquarters, but this was yet another special moment. Meeting Jeremy Balkin, Global Head of Innovation for payments, was another highlight.  We all had a short pitch and he immediately identified relevant contacts and actions within their organisation for pretty much all the delegate companies. 

The evenings were mainly filled with panels and networking. It was fascinating to hear from Sasha Pilch from Fin Capital. When asked whether the current economic environment would impact any companies of the delegation who were about to fundraise, her response was that being in the B2B space made it easier than B2C. Fin Capital was represented on a couple of panels, with Nick Daley expertly answering questions on investment considerations.  Also on the investment front, we enjoyed some valuable insights from Bukie Adebo Umeano from Anthemis, and Jon Zanoff, author of ‘The Ghost of Fintech Future’.

It was fantastic to spend time in the great Barclay’s Rise facilities, another cracking UK export. One evening they hosted a star-studded Fintech panel mediated by The Fintech Power 50’s Mark Walker with Barney Frank (as in Dodd-Frank), Ron Shevlin (Forbes) and Emmanuel Daniel.

Bank of Montreal grilled every delegate to find out as much about each proposition as they could.  All very impressive questions with intense interest and understanding of all the problems that the solutions solved. Our experiences at the premises of our other host banks, including Citi, TD Bank, ConnectOne, Morgan Stanley and First Republic, were all equally valuable and a privilege.

One of many personal high points was visiting Stripe, who dedicated 1-2-1 time with us all to work out partnership opportunities. Wherever we went and whomever we met, there was an appreciation of the quality of the delegation and their propositions.  We were reminded that London is the Fintech Capital of the world many a time.  This may be true, but one thing is also for sure…

We love New York and we’ll be back soon.

Want to learn more about Cygnetise? Request a free demo below and one of our team will get in touch with you right away!