{"id":300,"date":"2018-12-06T12:46:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T12:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/?p=300"},"modified":"2024-03-29T10:20:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T10:20:47","slug":"we-won-at-nestas-open-up-challenge","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/blog\/we-won-at-nestas-open-up-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"We won at Nesta&#8217;s Open Up Challenge!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019re thrilled to announce that we\u2019ve won the BCA Track prize in this year\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.openupchallenge.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nesta Open Up Challenge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">! It\u2019s been a busy few months of presentations and competition against some of the biggest players in fintech <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and to top it off, we\u2019re the only Irish company to have been awarded in the final round of the 12-month competition<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Open Up Challenge is a prize fund backing ambitious products that support small businesses to save both time and money, find better services and discover the intelligence in their financial data. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, now that we\u2019ve won the coveted prize we are excited to announce new features on the Swoop platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Compare bank accounts<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The average SME spends an average of 45 minutes filling in forms online, \u00a0before waiting an average of 48 hours to hear back from the bank. They then often have to endure 3 and a half hours in talks with the bank to complete the task. We set out to dramatically change this system and reduce the time exponentially. We enable our SMEs to integrate their business bank accounts into our platform; thus enabling them to: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compare their business bank account against the major U.K banks, High Street Banks and Challenger Banks for:<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bank rates<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Introductory offers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overdraft facilities <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Electronic payments<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ATM Fees<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FX payments <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fill and download the documentation to switch business bank accounts<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Select which direct debit payments to move across to the new account and which ones to cancel<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Book a date to switch business bank accounts<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Is it time for you to review your banking options? <a href=\"https:\/\/ireland.swoopfunding.com\/get-started\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-cke-saved-href=\"https:\/\/ireland.swoopfunding.com\/get-started\" data-cke-saved->Integrate your bank account with\u00a0Swoop<\/a> now!<\/p>\n<h4><b>Non-bank savings to increase value to SMEs<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We analyse SMEs\u2019 spending habits across subscriptions, FX, insurance, mobile and utilities. Through our fulfillment partner, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.makeitcheaper.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make It Cheaper Ltd<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, we are able to achieve substantial savings for our SMEs. The average person spends \u20ac30,000 on wasted subscriptions over their lifetime. With our help, SMEs can now analyse their expenditure and search for cost savings at the click of a button. <a href=\"https:\/\/ireland.swoopfunding.com\/get-started\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-cke-saved-href=\"https:\/\/ireland.swoopfunding.com\/get-started\" data-cke-saved->Sign up today<\/a> and see the difference this can make for your business.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Unsecured SME lending<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We are now able to provide SMEs with a range of unsecured lending deals, from \u20ac1,000 to \u20ac25,000, from every major bank in the U.K. Loan periods range from 1-10 years and APRs range from 6-15%. These facilities can prove incredibly useful for startups looking for early growth capital to cover tech expenses to build out their minimal viable product before seeking further equity based funding. Does this sound like you? <\/span><a style=\"font-size: inherit;\" href=\"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\">Step this way.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>What this means to us<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our founder Andrea Reynolds said: \u201cWith exponential growth of our users and funding partners across the platform this year, the Open Up Challenge award is as motivating as it is rewarding. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The award not only highlights Swoop as a valuable product with impressive growth potential, but it solidifies its noble purpose of supporting SMEs to navigate the ever-changing and often-turbulent funding arena. The closure of our latest funding round has made 2018 a very successful year and as we move into what promises to be an exciting new year, we are proud to be at the forefront of open banking, creating additional opportunities for SMEs to connect with viable, necessary funding options to grow their businesses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you want to make big savings for your business? Head over to<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"font-size: inherit;\" href=\"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">swoopfunding.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and integrate your bank account onto our new system. Any information shared is for your eyes only &#8211; any details we share with providers will only be done with your full consent. If you&#8217;d like to learn more about Nesta&#8217;s Open Up Challenge and why we won, head over<\/span><a style=\"font-size: inherit;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/davidprosser\/2018\/12\/06\/meet-the-uks-six-most-innovative-fintechs-for-smes\/#4d0c5b042ec8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re thrilled to announce that we\u2019ve won the BCA Track prize in this year\u2019s Nesta Open Up Challenge! It\u2019s been a busy few months of presentations and competition against some of the biggest players in fintech and to top it off, we\u2019re the only Irish company to have been awarded in the final round of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","category":[1365],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-300x195.jpeg",300,195,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"large":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"image_blog":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-408x252.jpeg",408,252,true],"image_podcast":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-397x298.jpeg",397,298,true],"image_banking":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-31x20.jpeg",31,20,true],"image_blog_internal":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-768x480.jpeg",768,480,true],"image_blog_medium":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"image_single_banking":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-80x52.jpeg",80,52,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable":"<p>We\u2019re thrilled to announce that we\u2019ve won the BCA Track prize in this year\u2019s Nesta Open Up Challenge! It\u2019s been a busy few months of presentations and competition against some of the biggest players in fintech and to top it off, we\u2019re the only Irish company to have been awarded in the final round of the 12-month competition. The Open Up Challenge is a prize fund backing ambitious products that support small businesses to save both time and money, find better services and discover the intelligence in their financial data. So, now that we\u2019ve won the coveted prize we are&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list":"<a href=\"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"root","url":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/author\/root\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","featured_image_urls_v2":{"full":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-300x195.jpeg",300,195,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"large":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"image_blog":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-408x252.jpeg",408,252,true],"image_podcast":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-397x298.jpeg",397,298,true],"image_banking":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-31x20.jpeg",31,20,true],"image_blog_internal":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-768x480.jpeg",768,480,true],"image_blog_medium":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1.jpeg",768,500,false],"image_single_banking":["https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/12\/photo-1513151233558-d860c5398176-768x512-1-768x500-1-80x52.jpeg",80,52,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable_v2":"<p>We\u2019re thrilled to announce that we\u2019ve won the BCA Track prize in this year\u2019s Nesta Open Up Challenge! It\u2019s been a busy few months of presentations and competition against some of the biggest players in fintech and to top it off, we\u2019re the only Irish company to have been awarded in the final round of the 12-month competition. The Open Up Challenge is a prize fund backing ambitious products that support small businesses to save both time and money, find better services and discover the intelligence in their financial data. So, now that we\u2019ve won the coveted prize we are&hellip;<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"<a href=\"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"root","url":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/author\/root\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32198,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/300\/revisions\/32198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swoopfunding.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}