CELEBRATING THE POWER OF INNOVATION — WE'VE PARTNERED WITH A MIDLANDS BASED START UP

2026-02-16 08:36:27.0

We've reinforced our commitment to drive regional financial services innovation by joining forces with Inicio AI, a specialist, AI-powered income and expenditure solution and alumnus of our UK FinTech Incubator Programme, the Innovation Lab.

After discovering the commercial viability of Inicio AI during the 2024 iteration of our Innovation Lab, we invited the organisation to take part in a twelve-month trial period to test the effectiveness of the solution with our customers via our consumer-facing platform, the Creation Finance app.

After developing a solid proof of concept for how the solution is used to support customers, Inicio AI will now be embedded into our customer journey, making income and expenditure assessments more convenient and efficient.

As a leading provider of consumer finance, we help over four million customers turn big purchases into affordable instalments and currently welcome a new customer every 22 seconds. To continue with our ambitious growth plans, facilitating a seamless customer journey is essential, and so the digitalisation of this journey and providing ample opportunities to self-serve are a key focus from an operational perspective.

Inicio AI was founded in 2020 with a clear mission in mind: to transform the way affordability and financial wellbeing are supported through intelligent, user-centric technology. Inicio AI's virtual agent, Budgie, is trained to help customers complete a detailed affordability assessment in a conversational manner, ensuring that customers can complete the task efficiently and without fear or embarrassment.

In 2024, Inicio AI joined the Innovation Lab, a FinTech Incubator programme developed by founding partners SuperTech WM and BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, with a unified vision of accelerating innovation in the financial services sector and supporting emerging FinTech organisations in the West Midlands.

The programme provided Inicio AI the opportunity to validate both the technology and its real-world application of its solution within a large, heavily regulated financial services environment. Working collaboratively with executives from BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, alongside the teams at SuperTech WM and STEAMhouse, Inicio AI was able to refine its solution using insights from organisational requirements and real-life customer needs, applying this knowledge to directly influence the evolution of the solution into a consumer-facing experience.

Ricardo Mantovani, Deputy CEO of BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, commented on the partnership: “The West Midlands is the UK’s fastest-growing tech sector and, as one of the UK’s leading financial providers that is based in this region, it has been a pleasure to engage and support emerging FinTech organisations with the development of tools and solutions that align with our ‘We think customer 1st‘ culture.

“The Innovation Lab not only has a great impact for our customers and colleagues, but for the West Midlands ecosystem and the wider financial services industry too. Inicio AI is a real success story of the Innovation Lab and is evidence of the power of collaboration across the financial services sector to drive innovation and business growth.

“At BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, we remain committed to providing the very best support for our customers and partners, so I look forward to the impact Inicio AI has on our business.”

Hilary Smyth-Allen, Chief Executive Officer at SuperTech WM, added: “Through our Innovation Lab programme partnership with BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, Inicio AI could work closely with the next level of financial services institution, demonstrating how their clear vision solves problems at all scales.

“This story demonstrates the impact of regional partners coming together with real commitment. By connecting ambitious companies with established organisations, we can speed up innovation, open doors, and demonstrate the strength of our regional ecosystem.”

Rachel Curtis, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Inicio AI, said: “Participating in the BNP Paribas Innovation Lab has been a pivotal step for Inicio AI. Moving from proof of concept to full commercial deployment within a Tier 1 financial services environment requires collaboration, regulatory rigour, and a shared commitment to delivering better customer outcomes.

“We are hugely grateful to BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK for championing innovation in such a practical and meaningful way, and to SuperTech WM for creating the structured ecosystem that brings major organisations and emerging FinTechs together. That combination of leadership and structure is what turns innovation into real-world impact.

“We are proud to have progressed from Innovation Lab participant to long-term partner and look forward to continuing this collaboration.”

To discover more about our innovation eco-system with SuperTech WM, read their case study here.