Meet Flux, winner of ‘Best Pitch’ at UKTN’s Elevator Pitch 2017

I caught up with the team at Flux, winner of ‘Best Pitch‘ at UKTN‘s hotly contested Elevator Pitch LIVE 2017.

FinTech startup Flux, which digitises receipts and loyalty cards, recently partnered with Barclays and raised a $1.5m round from PROfounders, Anthemis, Force Over Mass and business angels.

Here’s what they had to say.

Q: How did the idea for Flux come about and why?

We met at another high-growth FinTech where we were part of the founding team that built a new payments startup from scratch. It was inspirational to be part of the team that created something from nothing. It struck us one day how insane it is that we can go from using 21st contactless cards connected to this entirely new system we built to 100 BC paper receipts. After a bit of digging it became obvious that the root of that problem exists because there is no scalable link between the payment and the exact items. So, we built that link.

Q: Tell me about yourselves.

We’re two business oriented founders and one technical founder. We’re very lucky in that we all worked together before so had the reassurance that we knew the passion and dedication each of us put into what we do.

Q: You’re a team of three, what are the benefits and challenges of not setting up a company alone?

I would highly recommend finding at least one co-founder, ideally two, to anyone looking to setup a company. Not only does it help spread the workload, allowing you to move faster, but it’s been critical to moving the product forward in the best possible way. It’s about how we problem solve and bring our different points of view to the table.

Q: You graduated from Barclays Techstars over the Summer. Tell me about your experience. Why should tech founders seek to participate in these kind of programs?

Barclays Techstars has been invaluable for us. The network and experience library we can tap into is frankly unreal.

It helped Flux grow up quickly from 3 people “in the garage e.g. our apartments” to a real business with product market fit. The best part of Techstars is what they hit home from the minute you join that you’re part of the family. That means we support each other in business development, investor relations, bouncing around ideas and so on. It actually happens for real it’s great.

Q: You raised from investors earlier this year. What’s your advice for entrepreneurs looking to do the same?

However long you think it will take, increase it by at least three months. Also choose the partner, not the firm. It’s critical you have that bond with the partner who will lead your deal. If you meet people who deeply believe in your vision, those are the right people.

Q: You won ‘Best Pitch’ at UKTN’s Elevator Pitch LIVE 2017. What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs looking to pitch their business on stage?

Practice is key. A little tip to those prepping pitches, is rehearse in your own time until you can do it from memory. Then start recording those pitches, if you have a pitch coming up that week listen to it on your commute it’s extremely helpful to memorising.

Q: How has winning the competition helped you?

This was our first award and external public recognition of the vision at Flux, it’s been fantastic to become an award winning startup (granted by a body as well known as UKTN) as it’s adds to our credibility with people who don’t know anything about us.

Q: What can we expect from Flux over the coming year?

More UK banks and more high street name retailers. We’re serious about digitising the world’s receipt data and are going after high frequency retail in order to get rid of more receipts on a daily basis and to drive immediate value for both our consumers and retailers.