Regnosys, Freedom, Tokenovate, Milltech and Lightning Reach have all been recognised for their pioneering work across the fintech sector.

TechRound’s FinTech50 rankings put Tokenovate and Regnosys in the top ten.

Freedom has been shortlisted by the City AM judges for Innovative Company of the Year.

MillTech is a finalist for Fintech Company of the Year at the London FinTech Awards.

Each company operates in a different part of the financial system, from regulatory reporting and post-trade automation to financial support and retirement. 

But each is solving similar problems: fragmented systems, operational inefficiencies and outdated processes that institutions and consumers still rely on every day.

Here’s a deep dive into these outstanding teams:

Tokenovate: The move towards automated markets

Tokenovate’s top ten ranking speaks to a similar shift across capital markets. Post-trade remains one of the most complex areas of financial services because behind every transaction sits a network of systems, records, checks and hand-offs. As markets move towards shorter settlement cycles, including the UK’s planned move to T+1 next year, those old processes come under more pressure.

Tokenovate is building for that environment and its platform turns agreed legal terms into automated post-trade workflows, allowing lifecycle events to trigger through smart legal contracts.

The firm has also been selected to participate in the Bank of England’s RTGS Synchronisation Lab, exploring how coordinated cash and asset movements could support automated wholesale settlement.

REGnosys: A common language for regulation

One of the standout themes emerging is the growing importance of technology that helps firms interpret, implement and manage regulation more consistently.

For years, firms have had to manage reporting obligations across multiple jurisdictions, rulebooks and systems, creating duplication, fragmented interpretation and risk. For some, errors in reporting can come at a costly price through fines and reputational damage. 

REGnosys, led by Leo Labeis, is solving that problem through Rosetta, a collaborative platform that allows financial institutions, technology vendors and regulators to work from shared regulatory logic.

Its work sits at the centre of Digital Regulatory Reporting, the ISDA-governed programme designed to make global trade reporting rules machine-readable and easier to implement.

It was impressive to see its work directly recognised by the judges, with Tony Odiba highlighting REGnosys as one of the firms “owning the regulatory standard for ISDA trade reporting.”

MilltechFX: Treasury is becoming more intelligent

Milltech is modernising how corporates and fund managers manage FX risk and cash operations, areas that have historically been opaque, costly and operationally burdensome.

Recent MillTech research highlights the continued reliance on manual workflows across treasury operations. Its platform is designed to address that gap, giving finance teams a more transparent, efficient and cost-effective way to manage risk and make decisions with greater speed and control.

Its $60m investment from Apax Digital Funds is another marker of the company’s momentum as it continues to scale.

Lightning Reach: Making financial support easier to access

Lightning Reach uses technology to make fragmented financial support systems easier for people to navigate.

In the UK, billions of pounds in grants, benefits and other forms of support go unclaimed each year, often because access is fragmented, slow and difficult to navigate. Lightning Reach has addressed this by building a single, secure journey that allows people to find and apply for personalised support from thousands of verified schemes.

Its “tell it once” approach reduces duplication for individuals, while helping charities, local authorities and utilities manage support delivery more efficiently. The company has now facilitated more than £25 million in financial support and grown its user base to more than 330,000 people.

Freedom: Retirement journeys need modernising

Freedom is building retirement banking infrastructure designed to support real-time access, modern payments capability and simpler journeys following regulated pension withdrawal.

For a company that only went live this year, recognition from City AM is a strong marker of the scale and relevance of the problem it is trying to solve.