FinTech North is delighted to share some exciting regional FinTech news from our strategic partners, GFT, who have partnered with Manchester-based Valloop to build a platform that helps accelerate and scale employee ownership.

As of June last year, there were 1,418 employee-owned businesses within the UK, a 37% increase from the previous year – a clear sign that this transition is a growing trend in the UK.

Valloop, supports SMEs in becoming employee-owned, and has partnered with GFT to design, build and support a digital platform that uses modern technologies such as AI, to automate and accelerate the processes to inclusive ownership for businesses.

The Valloop Exchange is a single marketplace for businesses going through the transition, providing an easy-to-use model for employees and business owners to access tools and information about the process.

The employee-ownership model has proven to be a huge success in the UK, highlighted in the Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership last year in August, by empowering employees to have more control of the company they work for.

A tool for an increasingly digital clientele

Speaking on the partnership, Carlton Hopper, UK Managing Director, GFT said: “As the adoption of employee-owned businesses continues to gather momentum, the Valloop Exchange will be transformational for the market. GFT’s use of advanced technologies such as AI and Machine Learning will ensure Valloop is able to accelerate the process of firms transferring ownership to an empowered workforce.”

Stephen Greenwood, CEO Valloop highlights the value that GFT has brought to the project: “Making something totally unique like the Valloop Exchange in the SME market is complex. We knew we needed a trusted and experienced partner to help execute and deliver an industry leading platform; GFT’s experience in the financial services sector made them the ideal match for us.”

Delivering value

GFT is building a digital platform that delivers a number of benefits for SME clients and the new employee owners. A key priority for Valloop is to ensure it is able to maintain peak performance and security at all times. Given the context of rising cybercrime, GFT is delivering a built-in design that handles data with industry-leading security controls, ensuring security is a top priority.

Valloop also benefits from GFT’s best-practice ‘GreenCoding’ approach, ensuring efficient IT development that supports a drive to minimise the carbon footprint for both the development and ongoing maintenance of the platform. The Valloop Exchange is expected to launch in early 2025.