Case study: ingage

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Innovative London fintech business brings revolutionary investor relations platform to Australia

Country: Australia

Founded in London in 2013, fintech business ingage has revolutionised the way large businesses communicate with their investors by creating the world’s first cloud-based platform for managing the process.

Now the company counts 10 of the UK’s biggest listed businesses among its clients, including several household names.

Co-founder Michael Hufton, who worked in financial services for 20 years before launching ingage, said: “The UK is one of – if not the – world-leading centres for fintech innovation, and that has put our business in a strong position to replicate our success in bringing new solutions to the London market in other territories around the world.”

Another example of how the UK brings innovation to life

Financial services is a globalised industry, so when new regulations are introduced in one key business centre, they often have a big impact around the world – and this effect has played a big role in allowing ingage to expand into the Australian market.

In Europe, the regulations governing how listed businesses share information with their investors have become much stricter in recent years, following introduction of a new law called the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). The ingage platform makes it easier for investor relations teams to adapt.

Investor relations teams at Australia’s biggest businesses have had to understand the changes and adapt, and ingage has been a go-to expert on the subject at industry conferences for several years.

In 2018, ingage started working with its first client in Australia, an Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) 20 company.

This is the culmination of a five-year-long campaign by ingage to build trust and credibility in the market. A key part of this has been working closely with industry bodies, especially the Australasian Investor Relations Association (AIRA), with support from the UK Department for International Trade (DIT).

Michael Hufton said: “DIT plays an invaluable role both for British exporters and for businesses around the world looking to harness their expertise.

“The trade missions DIT runs as part of the UK-Australia FinTech Bridge have been vital door-openers for our business, and the ideal shop-front for Australian businesses looking to benefit from British innovation.

“The DIT team in Australia has expert local knowledge and an extensive network of contacts across all areas of fintech throughout the country.”

A bright future

Now that the business has won its first client in Australia, Hufton is confident that further growth will be easier to achieve.

He continued: “The first client is always the hardest in any new market as they have to be pretty brave. Once you have that first respected customer and their experience is good, suddenly it becomes a lot easier. There is still no substitute for word-of-mouth and positive recommendation, especially when it comes to mission-critical services that demand such a high level of trust.

“Australia is a core target for us, and our ambition is to win several more clients there in order to allow us to open an operation on the ground – something we hope to achieve within the next few years.”

The UK Government’s Department for International Trade (DIT) helps connect international buyers with UK goods and services to meet their needs, supports overseas companies to locate and grow in the UK, drives both inward and outward investment, negotiates market access and trade deals, and champions free trade.