Updates

Press Release – Large seed investment to blockchain startup hiveonline

by Sofie Blakstad
November 14, 2017

Fintech startup hiveonline receives a €800,000 seed investment from Swedish entrepreneur Torbjörn Nilsson and his business partner Håkan Birging. The seed money investment comes at a crucial moment in Hiveonlines progress towards launch in 2018. Danish Hiveonline is developing a financial administration solution for small businesses, their customers and investors.… Read More »Press Release – Large seed investment to blockchain startup hiveonline

Platform Consumers

by Sofie Blakstad
September 28, 2017

In this article we examine the evolution of consumers from retail consumers to platform consumers, as businesses move into the ecosystem and marketplaces emerge to manage B2C and peer to peer sales. We observe how platforms have changed customer expectations and behaviours and discuss the impact on businesses, and how… Read More »Platform Consumers

International Sustainable Investment

by Sofie Blakstad
September 2, 2017

In this article we explore the world of sustainable investment, the scope of the challenge and the barriers faced today. We discuss how growing awareness and technology are working together and how current developments in financial technology will help remove some of the barriers. The Sustainable Development Goals and investment… Read More »International Sustainable Investment

Green fintech – we can save the planet!

by Sofie Blakstad
August 28, 2017

In this article we provide a broad overview, together with some examples, of how fintech can help provide solutions in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The UN and many other NGOs, together with investors, researchers and technology companies, are converging to start building solutions to some of the… Read More »Green fintech – we can save the planet!

SIF💚S – Green Fintech Events – Dates for your Diary

by Sofie Blakstad
July 12, 2017

28 June 2017 – SIF💚S at Money20/20 & Copenhagen Fintech Week, Copenhagen Fintech Lab, Copenhagen, Denmark saw our first event that attracted an audience of engaged experts and learners “Thanks for an inspiring session” “Thanks Sofie et all – for a great and relevant discussion. This should (and will) be… Read More »SIF💚S – Green Fintech Events – Dates for your Diary

GreenInvest G20 Meeting and Green Digital Finance

by Sofie Blakstad
June 6, 2017

Continuing our supporting partnership with UNEP and the Green Digital Finance Alliance, the Stockholm Green Digital Finance centre and hiveonline were invited to Berlin to advise the G20 policymakers and representatives of the V20 countries – 46 countries made particularly vulnerable by climate change – on how fintech could help… Read More »GreenInvest G20 Meeting and Green Digital Finance

hiveonline at the G7 in Venice

by Sofie Blakstad
April 18, 2017

hiveonline is proud to have been asked to support the UN Environment Programme Inquiry into Design of a Sustainable Financial System, recently accompanying them to the G7 Green Finance for SME policy making meeting in Venice. Six of the G7 governments (all except USA) were represented, with a combination of Environment and Financial departments sending delegates.

Following an opening speech by the State Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment, Ms Barbara Degani, Advantage Financial presented their views on the future, with Fintech and future finance driving the agenda but also highlighted the shortage of equity capital available for research and investment. UNEP Inquiry paper co-author Nick Robins presented a summary of the findings, followed by analytical observations by PwC, which centred on the gap between the report’s ambitions and the backing of banks and nations to mobilise practical steps.

March Newsletter

by Sofie Blakstad
March 31, 2017

Building Bridges

Following the Nordic tradition, the Bee has two homes and we attended the launch of the Stockholm Fintech Hub, hosted by KPMG, where the room was packed to capacity and 180 people had to be turned away! The hub itself, based at the No. 18 shared working space in Stockholm’s Central Station, opened its doors in March and a number of fintechs have already moved in. With 141 funded FinTechs in Stockholm alone, this facility is much needed.

stockholm fintech launch.jpg march newsletter

We’re proud that the Stockholm Hub has asked Sofie to sit on its advisory committee, and represented it at February’s OsloFin Tech Fest in a lively discussion about collaboration across the Nordic Fintech Hubs.

Building Capabilities

by Sofie Blakstad
March 21, 2017

If you’ve been following our series, you’ll know that we believe that whether you’re restructuring an existing business or building a new one, the base unit of building a service aligned business is a capability. We’ve explored elsewhere the different types of capabilities (Case Managed and Core Standardised), how to structure services and the practicalities of building services. This article is concerned with the practicalities of building a capability.

As a reminder, a capability is the base unit of the purpose of an organisation, something the organisation does to fulfil its customer proposition. There are levels of capability, from top level capabilities such as “payments” or “customer relationship management”, to much more granular capabilities like “instant payments”, “customer onboarding” and beyond.

Microfinance, fractional ownership and crowdfunding

by Sofie Blakstad
March 20, 2017

We’ve described service alignment, ecosystems and how these impact trust in previous articles. In this article we explore the impact of technology on community financing, and in particular how technology can support disintermediation of financial services and serve to empower communities in taking back control of their financial arrangements. This is an opportunity for developing economies, where many people are poorly served by the financial system and exploited as a result, but also in developed economies where there’s a real opportunity to rebalance the power of individuals and small businesses.

We believe an effect of this empowerment will be to encourage communities to make more sustainable choices about how their environments are managed; community ownership will allow longer-term and more community focused decisions to be made, while practical applications of fractional ownership and cryptocurrency rewards for sustainable energy production will reduce need for fossil fuels and costs.Read More »Microfinance, fractional ownership and crowdfunding