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Interviewing the innovation economy's investors: Outward VC
At HSBC Innovation Banking, we have the privilege of working alongside visionary founders and the funds that back them. This series of short interviews introduces key innovation investors.
As our recent Enterprise Software report points out, fintech is one of the most dynamic areas of the innovation economy, which continues to attract significant investment.
I recently chatted to Kevin Chong, Co-Founder and General Partner at Outward VC, to understand how they’re hoping to help early stage founders in the space breakthrough.
Please tell us a little bit about Outward VC and your investment thesis
Since Outward was founded 2019, our mission has always been to help founders breakthrough in the critical early-stage.
We invest in UK founders solving important societal problems across fintech and the connected sectors. Outward partners with Founders at the most challenging stage in the scale-up journey by leading the first institutional funding round.
Post investment, Outward works as a collective to support founders, with a significant portion of the fund allocated for follow-on investments.
What trends are you most excited about at Outward VC?
With Fund II, we’re doubling down on our belief that fintech extends far beyond traditional financial services.
We envision a future where finance is more open, more embedded, and intertwined with global, society-shifting challenges:
- Adapting to longer lifespans and evolving work-learn paradigms
- Facilitating intergenerational wealth transfer in a tech-enabled world
- Addressing healthcare inefficiencies and insurance inadequacies
- Revolutionising borrowing practices
- Securing private data flow through institutional APIs
- Improving pension fund value assessment
- Streamlining real estate due diligence
- Modernising consumer credit referencing
- Integrating AI into asset and wealth management
These areas represent the new frontier of fintech – technology that drives economic impact while being a force for good. It’s why our first fund led early investment rounds in groundbreaking companies like Bud, Clearglass, Curve, Exate, Infact Systems, Islamic Finance Guru, Oneday, Orbital Witness, Peppy Health, Supercede and Vauban (exited to Carta).
Why did you choose HSBC Innovation Banking to be your banking provider
HSBC Innovation Banking’s specialist VC team were able to quickly understand our needs and get us set up in time for our Fund II launch, plus they play an active role in the UK's startup ecosystem, meaning the relationship extends beyond just a bank account.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of HSBC Innovation Banking or any of its affiliates.
