Slaughter and May expands scope of tech entrepreneurs programme

Law firm Slaughter and May has opened its technology entrepreneurs programme, Fast Forward, for a third round of applications and announced that the scheme has been expanded to include a broader range of emerging technologies, including DLT.

Selected businesses receive £30,000 of legal and related support services. The first two cohorts of the programme, originally named FinTech Fast Forward, focussed on the FinTech sector, including PayTech, InsurTech, RegTech, data analytics and AI.

Under the new name of Fast Forward, the initiative will be expanded to cover young companies operating in such sectors as IOT, cryptography, cyber, robotics, machine learning and DLT.

Beyond FinTech

Ben Kingsley, Partner at Slaughter and May, says: “The main aim of our programme is to support some fantastic young businesses by giving access to the first class legal support that our firm can provide. But it also helps us to gain knowledge and experience that we can use to better our offering to all our clients. Emerging technologies are touching clients across all sectors and so opening up Fast Forward outside the FinTech space is a totally logical step at this point.”

“Since we launched the programme in 2016 we have had the enjoyable opportunity to work with some really brilliant and motivated people through the programme. The expansion of Fast Forward beyond FinTech is a natural evolution which reflects both the evolving interest in cutting edge tech among our diverse client base, and the thriving demand for high quality legal support in the UK tech sector,” adds Rob Sumroy, Partner at Slaughter and May.