Deloitte go ‘tech crazy’ with latest investments
Big Four firm Deloitte has announced its investment in blockchain start-up SETL as well as a partnership with VTC Group
AN INVESTMENT into blockchain start-up SETL, as well as a partnership with VTC Group, are the latest tech deals undertaken by Big Four firm Deloitte.
The partnership between Deloitte and SETL will focus on developing financial blockchain applications designed to reduce complexity, cost, and increase transparency in the capital markets. Blockchain is a technology that maintains irrefutable records of transactions, stored in ‘blocks’ that are linked together chronologically.
David Myers, head of capital markets, Deloitte, said: “This investment demonstrates Deloitte’s commitment to help our clients build the future of financial services with emerging technologies. By harnessing the capabilities of SETL’s blockchain, we can provide our clients with even more practical and transformational solutions.”
Peter Randall, CEO of SETL, added: “We are thrilled that Deloitte has chosen to invest in SETL. We have been working with Deloitte for 12 months, and the announcement demonstrates the firms’ ongoing commitment to engage with our platform.”
This is the latest in a series of investments that Deloitte has made through its £25m Innovation Investments scheme. The firm has invested in more than 30 disruptive start-ups, which includes four external investments in the past year.
Helping healthcare providers go digital
A partnership has also been announced with Deloitte and the Virtual Technology Cluster Group (VTC Group), an organisation that enables major multinational companies to attract emerging technology innovators to their supply chain. This has created a Deloitte Healthcare Virtual Technology Cluster (Deloitte VTC). The Deloitte VTC aims to advance the digitisation of healthcare providers through improving access to new technologies.
Julian Hunt, partner at Deloitte, said: “The Virtual Technology Cluster model stood out for us as it focused on enabling the acceleration of digital capability, innovative capacity and investment opportunities in the healthcare sector and wider economy.”
Deloitte has also invested £2.5m in the launch of Propel by Deloitte, a cloud-based accounting and analytics service. Last month it was announced that Deloitte, SETL and Metro Bank trialled a contactless payment card successfully using the distributed ledger technology.
Vimi Grewal-Carr, UK managing partner for innovation at Deloitte, concluded: “Investing in innovation is vital for the future of all business and we take it very seriously at Deloitte. We know that it’s important that we continue to diversify our business model, partnering with and investing in start-ups which complement our core areas of expertise is a crucial part of that.”
