The FinTech 50 2014 Mar. 2014 | Page 16

FinTech50 FREEAGENT ED MOLYNEUX, FOUNDER & CEO A FIXNETIX HUGH HUGHES, CHAIRMAN & CEO F ixnetix has become the leading financial technology provider because of the people we select to represent our business. It’s ironic to rank the number one success factor for a technology vendor as man rather than machine. When I started my career nearly 50 years ago, firms were built on the premise of making good relationships and always putting the customer first. I’ve been able to carry this mantra through to Fixnetix whilst choosing the right variety of team members and inspiring all of them with the freedom to innovate and win. Today, we are one of the last independent providers worldwide and the early adapter types consider us to be a veteran and somewhat of a legend. About Fixnetix is a 2013, 2012 and 2011 award-winning company providing outsourced managed services across multiple asset classes to leading global banks, hedge funds and proprietary trading groups seeking ultra-low latency trading, market data, hosting, infrastructure connectivity and risk management solutions. The company is in 33 co-location and proximity hosting centres across Europe, USA, Asia-Pac and Africa and offers trading access to over 89+ markets. @Fixnetix SIXTEEN t FreeAgent our vision is to ‘Democratize Accounting’. Back in 2007 when I started the company with my co-founders Olly and Roan, we were just trying to build something that would help us run our own businesses. Back then we were naïve enough to set out a bold scope for our product: to streamline everything from timeslip to tax return. But the software-as-a-service model allowed us to rapidly build out from our initial product and we’re now well on our way to delivering against our ambition. We’re currently launching our Self Assessment Filing tool, initially just for Sole Traders, that automatically fills in 90% of their income tax return - the bane of most business owners’ lives. We’re reinventing what accounting software means for very small businesses and also redefining their relationship with accountants. By providing real-time access to microbusinesses’ financial health data, we’re also poised to transform the small business financing landscape as well. About FreeAgent are pioneers of cloud accounting for freelancers and micro-businesses, and are currently the UK market leader with over 34,000 paying subscribers. FreeAgent are ranked #8 in the Deloitte Fast50 2013 and are winners of the AccountingWeb 2013 Software Satisfaction Awards in both the Accounting Software and Expense Management categories. @FreeAgent @edmolyneux