London is home to some of the biggest disruptors in fintech like Starling Bank and Nutmeg and these businesses need access to the best fintech talent. Storm2 is the recruiting platform specialising in fintech talent solutions in positions across Data Science, the C-Suite, and Product Management. Storm2 presently has over 20,000 candidates within its network and has partnered with 100 fintech companies that are actively hiring. In addition to its recruiting arm, Storm2 provides thought-leadership and market intelligence on the fintech industry and recruiting trends to its clients.
London TechWatch caught up with Commercial Director Alex Horner to learn more about Storm2, its recent funding round, and plans for expansion.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Puffin Point Investments – £1M Seed funding in 2019, which was the highest Seed funding in the recruitment sector in 20 years, and £2M in a second-round in 2020.
Tell us about the product or service Storm2
Storm2 are the leaders in global FinTech recruitment, connecting organisations with the talent to drive their mission. Our highly specialised teams cover key FinTech skill sets across C-Suite in Product, Sales, Finance, Operations, Engineering, DevOps, and Cyber Security. We are also the leading provider of FinTech-focused information to clients around market compensation and best practice in diversity, hiring, and retention.
What inspired the start of Storm2?
Storm2 Founder and Director, James Brown, joined a startup recruitment agency in 2008 as the 12th employee. Over 10 years he helped grow the business to 700 people across 10 countries, launching four of them and having Board responsibility for five of them. Storm2 was borne from his desire to take that experience and do it for himself, the way he wanted. In speaking to lots of CEOs, it was pretty clear that FinTech was growing faster than any dedicated recruitment solution. Every FinTech business was using a different set of 10 agencies. He wanted to fix that problem.
How is Storm2 different?
The recruitment sector for technology is historically very generalist. Storm2 provides a one-stop specialist shop for a fast-growing FinTech company. We are very focused on providing thought-leadership and intel on the FinTech talent market to our clients – salary levels, employer branding, diversity and inclusion pieces, interview processes, and staff retention initiatives to name a few. What we’re doing is unprecedented, especially in our sector. What we have that our competitors don’t is the investors, scale, and infrastructure to help us keep up with companies as they grow.
What market are you targeting and how big is it?
We target the FinTech sector within Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America. Estimates put the figure at around 20,000 FinTechs worldwide with a market worth of over £200B. As technology improves the sector will only grow and we will grow with it.
What’s your business model?
Storm2 specialise in connecting two networks of people 1) The leadership of FinTech companies looking to scale quickly and 2) Highly specialist talent currently working within FinTech, or in a sector with transferable skills/domain knowledge such as SaaS or Financial Services. Our mission is “Connecting FinTech Talent”, and our vision is to become the “go-to” talent solution for the global FinTech sector.
Who are your major competitors?
Historically, FinTech is largely served by 3 areas of the recruitment sector 1) Large generalist tech recruiters who operate across multiple sectors, from creative to finance to telco 2) Small boutique specialists run as mostly lifestyle businesses and 3) Expensive, slow exec search companies. Our model is to invest in the infrastructure of a large-scale business, operate a highly specialist approach to FinTech, and fill the senior positions at a speed and cost-efficient model.
What was the funding process like?
We are extremely fortunate to be partnered with an ambitious and pragmatic investor – Puffin Point – who share our enthusiasm and vision for creating a global, market-leading recruitment business.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
The backdrop of the pandemic created ongoing uncertainty against it was challenging. It is hard to build a future model against an uncertain climate.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Edward Ogden of Puffin Point commented “Storm2 have, throughout an unprecedented period, demonstrated that they can not only maintain sales but also grow headcount significantly. FinTech is a growing sector, which has only gained momentum in 2020, and coupled with the talent of the team, we are confident it’s the right time to accelerate the growth of the business.”
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Our Singapore office is due to open in six weeks which will be a massive milestone in our global takeover. Having a local base in the tech hub of the Asia Pacific area is incredibly important to us and the leadership team that will be launching the operation are amongst the best so we have no doubt it will be a success.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
There is a Buddhist mindset approach “chop wood and carry water”, which I personally interpret as not getting lost in the big picture and getting focused on doing the mundane daily tasks.
There is a Buddhist mindset approach “chop wood and carry water”, which I personally interpret as not getting lost in the big picture and getting focused on doing the mundane daily tasks.
Cut back the noise on passion projects or long-term strategy, focus on your MVP, core business line, and sales over the next 90 days.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Following our Singapore launch, we will be opening our US office mid-2021 which will complete our global expansion for the next few years. After that our mindset will be growth, growth, growth. We have aggressive plans for the next 5 years and want to be the go-to recruitment experts within the FinTech industry.
What’s your favorite outdoor activity in London?
We’ve only just moved to our new office near London’s Silicon Roundabout but we still love Shoreditch. Our favourite activity is our early Friday finishes and celebrating the week in a pub garden with a few beers!
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