StepSpace / 16 Dec Meet Our Members: Whitespace
They were the first tenant to move into StepSpace in Centre House and now the team at Whitespace are like part of the furniture. Glenn McClements, general manager, takes some time out of a busy schedule to tell us about what the future looks like for this ambitious company.
Tell me about the type of work your team in StepSpace is doing?
Lots of exciting things! We have our own products, Colinked.io and Eamli, which are aimed at helping startups access customers and capital, and to help corporates discover innovative startups, as well as some external projects, mostly in the the fintech space. These include building a stock exchange and a Monzo type bank for the Australian market.
What is the most exciting challenge in your sector at the moment?
It’s been talked about for years, but there’s still a major opportunity to disrupt large parts of the existing financial sector, be that retail banking, investment banking, insurance or venture capitalism. The advent of mature cloud based services, combined with modern software and product delivery methods, means that it’s now possible for even small companies to build robust, scalable platforms to take on the big guys and do it differently and better.
What attracted you to StepSpace?
The location, the amount of space and the ergonomics of the office. It was by far the nicest space of all the potential locations.
Which countries is your company active in and/or targeting?
We are primarily UK focussed at the moment, but our corporate partners are obviously global in reach. We have some US clients but were lucky in the fact they came to us without us having to go to the US to pitch. In 2019 we will be launching Colinked in a number of new global regions as well so watch this space.
How is your team settling into StepSpace?
Very well! It pretty much only took us an afternoon to setup and get back to work.
What is your business hoping to achieve this year?
In 2018 we wanted to hire some great people to grow the Belfast team and launch our Colinked platform – both of which we have done! Looking ahead we will continue to grow our Colinked platform, adding more startup and corporates members as well and bringing investors to the platform. We will also be launching our Eamli product for Founders, which allows startups to produce VC quality valuations at a fraction of the cost. If that wasn’t enough we’re also working hard with an undisclosed partner to build a brand new mobile bank for Australia!
What is your team in Belfast like and what skills do you have on site in StepSpace?
The team in Belfast consists of dedicated UX, UI, front end and back end development, working closely together, so we are very much a complete team who work on projects from conception to delivery all within Belfast.
What is your favourite part of working in StepSpace?
The space itself – lots of break out areas, lots of light, lots of space and lots of plants! It’s a very nice environment to come into each day.
How did your business start?
Whitespace originally started as a venture capital (VC) firm, investing in early stage startups and helping them grow. Over time this evolved into building products and platforms that would help tackle the same problems but using technology to solve them. The Belfast connection comes from one of our founders, Andy McCartney, who previously founded the local company JamPot Technologies and then went onto founding Microsoft Ventures UK in London.
What clients do you work with?
As well as working with other startups, through our Colinked platform we work with some of the world’s largest corporates including IBM, Microsoft, HSBC, BMW and many, many more.