Ones to Watch: GECKO Governance

Shane Brett, CEO and Damien Cahill, Technical Business Analyst winning Best New Start-Up at the Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition 2016

In our Ones to Watch section, we highlight some of the top movers and shakers in Ireland. This week we feature GECKO Governance.

What is it?

GECKO Governance is the first RegTech blockchain solution to easily allow fund managers and banks to monitor and manage their regulation and compliance requirements. It enables fund managers and banks to schedule all their end-to-end compliance and regulatory tasks and provides a verifiable independent audit trail of compliance to satisfy global financial regulators. The company offers a suite of unique blockchain-integrated products which hugely improves their client’s operational efficiency, cost effectiveness and compliance security. Clients use GECKO to manage compliance, bank stress testing (CCAR, FDSF, EU), AML/KYC, operational due diligence (ODD), fund launches and investor on-boarding. GECKO Governance is headquartered in Dundalk, Ireland and has offices in New York and Sydney, Australia.

Who’s behind it?

Shane Brett is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, peer-reviewed author and thought-leader specialising in hedge funds, FinTech and the global economy. He is Co-Founder and CEO of GECKO Governance and is the author of The Future of Hedge Funds (2012) and The AIFMD Cheat Sheet (2013). He is the Founding Member of The International RegTech Association (IRTA). Shane is on the Editorial Board of All About Alpha and is a contributor writer for Seeking Alpha and Hedge Tracker. He is a GLG Council member and a member of the Atheneum Partners Executive Network. Shane has published dozens of articles in many industry publications including the Financial Times, HFM Week, All About Alpha, Opalesque, The Hedge Fund Journal and Hedge Fund Insight.

How is it funded?

Until recently GECKO was 100% bootstrapped. It is finalising its seed round with its funding partners in Boston – COSIMO Venture – and the team is putting in place investors for a possible Series A round next year.

Future plans?

GECKO is planning a very active year in 2018 and is hoping to reach the following milestones:

• To open an office in London shortly to target the UK financial industry.
• As founding members of the IRTA (International RegTech Association), the team is planning to help expand its relationship with regulators and drive the establishment of the blockchain working group in this area.
• They are rolling out their new bank stress testing solution to manage this compliance process globally.
• They are exploring the possibility of a token sale (ICO) to raise funds for global expansion.