Government appoints a new ‘special envoy’ for FinTech

The Chancellor has appointed seed investor Eileen Burbidge as a special envoy for FinTech in a bid to promote the sector across the UK and at an international level.

Chancellor George Osborne made the announcement on Friday in an 88-page document entitled Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation as part of a new wave of FinTech initiatives meant to kick-start and improve the UK’s productivity.

Burbidge, dubbed by the Telegraph last year as the ‘reigning queen of Silicon Roundabout’, is partner at Passion Capital, a London early-stage technology investment fund,  which has stakes in early-stage startups such as Coinfloor, Birdback, GoCardless and putative challenger bank Mondo.

Her role will involve promoting the FinTech scene in London, nationally and internationally, as well as advising the Treasury on how best to support the sector.

The appointment comes just after new data revealed that UK’s FinTech companies have seen record-breaking VC investments being made with $1.5 billion raised in the first half of the year.

Alongside the appointment, the government also revealed its plans to launch an international FinTech benchmarking exercise in the autumn in order to track how the UK tracks against its international competitors on the FinTech scene.

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