Ricky Knox is our guest this week, a well known name in the fintech space for being a serial entrepreneur, who is best known for co-founding and being the CEO of Tandem bank. Knox gets candid on why he is no longer the CEO of the company he set up in 2014. He discusses the trials and tribulations that came with launching a challenger bank, raising funds, and securing a banking license in a time when nobody was too sure of the process and how it would impact the banking world. Knox talks life after Tandem bank, where he’s investing his money in fintech and the industries to watch for future investment opportunities.
Show Notes
Ricky Knox gives a behind the scenes look into what it took to launch a challenger bank during a time where people laughed at the idea of trying to disrupt the banking sector and the giant banks that dominated it. He gets honest on the difficulties of raising money and the challenges faced in getting past the gatekeepers in acquiring a banking license. As a serial entrepreneur and investor, Knox takes from his wealth of experience and knowledge to give a brutally honest perspective on what founders should and shouldn’t be doing, from knowing when to sell to accepting defeat and letting go of a failing business. Life after Tandem bank, Knox talks investment and the two industries he has his eye on outside of fintech that are sure to bring about what he calls, the internet 2.0.
Ricky Knox is a serial entrepreneur and investor. Ricky is Chairman of ForMore, an ethical wealth management platform. Ricky is the Founder of Tandem Bank (and CEO from inception to July 2021), an app-based bank that aims to revolutionise banking to save people and planet. App-operated bank Tandem was conceived after Ricky and his co-founder Matt Cooper saw the opportunity for a purpose driven bank. Tandem is currently focused on helping the UK reach Net Zero 2050 by leveraging customers savings to help customers to finance environmental improvements to their home, transport and lives.
Ricky has helped to create a series of technology disruptors in Fintech and telecoms before founding Tandem Bank. He co-founded GSM Systems (a global mobile telephony network services provider) in 2003 to recycle mobile networks into the developing world and is a founder of Small World Financial Services Group, a global money transfer business with over £5bn of transfers and one of the world’s largest international money transfer operators. In 2012, he co-founded Azimo, a social digital payments platform that enables simple, fast and secure remittances to 198 countries around the world and remained as Non-Executive Director until 2018.
Ricky has been investing in Fintech businesses since 2003, and has backed other notable Fintech businesses such as Curve, Comply Advantage, Vitesse, Liberis and Modulr. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a first class honors in Economics from Bristol University.
What is UKTN | The Podcast?
Each week, Jane Wakefield sits down with some of the key movers and shakers from the UK tech ecosystem for the UKTN Podcast. Learn growth strategies from both seasoned and up-and-coming founders, hear market sentiments from investors, and understand the tech policy affecting businesses across the country.
The UKTN Podcast provides insight into the most influential people in the UK’s innovation economy, exploring their personal and professional journeys and hearing their views on the hottest tech topics of the day.