Financial services firms are under pressure to move faster on AI and digital transformation. The harder challenge is turning ambition into measurable results.
The financial services sector has been investing heavily in digital transformation for years. The direction is clear, AI-enabled processes, automated workflows, modern data infrastructure and increasing regulatory complexity. But the gap between strategic intent and tangible results remains wide. Long timelines, large delivery teams and ROI deferred to the end of multi-year programmes have made many institutions cautious, even when the urgency to move is real.
At NextWave, we've built our business around addressing that challenge directly.
As a next-generation consultancy, we work with Tier 1 global financial services firms across banking, asset management, insurance and fintech, helping clients accelerate transformation, modernise operations and realise value faster. To date, we've delivered more than 100 projects for 22 global financial services clients and have been recognised as one of The Sunday Times Best Places to Work.
YFM are pleased to have invested £3.0m from their VCT managed funds, British Smaller Companies VCT and British Smaller Companies VCT2, to support the next phase of growth for a team that has built a genuinely differentiated position in a market where specialist capability is increasingly in demand.
Why this matters now
Investment across financial services is increasingly focused on AI, automation and data infrastructure. Yet despite strong demand and substantial spending, only a relatively small proportion of organisations have successfully scaled AI across the enterprise, and many have yet to realise meaningful commercial impact.
In our experience, the challenge is rarely the technology itself.
Successful AI adoption depends on the foundational work that enables it: connecting and restructuring data from siloed systems, automating complex manual processes, improving operational resilience and embedding scalable workflows that can support future innovation.
This is where NextWave helps clients unlock value. By addressing the operational and technical foundations first, we enable organisations to move from experimentation to enterprise-scale transformation with greater confidence and speed.
As investment in AI and digital transformation continues to grow, organisations need partners that can bridge the gap between strategy and execution.
A different model for financial services consulting
Our senior consultants have worked inside financial services firms at senior level before moving into consulting. They understand the operational and regulatory realities that tend to derail transformation work, not theoretically, but from direct experience. That client-side perspective shapes how the business scopes and delivers engagements from the outset.
Rather than deploying large teams on extended programmes, NextWave embeds senior technical consultants directly within client organisations, working quickly to demonstrate early results and reduce the execution risk typically associated with large transformation projects. The business has also developed its own suite of proprietary delivery tools and accelerators, ready-built solutions that can be adapted across clients, reducing the time from brief to working outcome.
For Tier 1 financial services institutions that need to move quickly and demonstrate measurable progress, that model is increasingly compelling.
Built on expertise and client relationships
What stands out about NextWave is the depth of its client relationships and the breadth of its capabilities. Across data, automation, testing and transformation, we support the full spectrum of financial services, banks, asset managers, insurers and fintechs, with an approach built around solving problems that clients' own teams have already grappled with.
We've also built strong technology partnerships, working with 30 specialist platforms including Quantexa, Alteryx and Camunda. Combined with our technology-agnostic approach, these relationships ensure we can recommend solutions based on what delivers the best outcome for our clients, rather than aligning ourselves to a single vendor or platform.
What comes next
The opportunity across financial services continues to expand as organisations seek to modernise legacy technology estates, unlock the value of their data and scale AI capabilities across the enterprise.
To support this next phase of growth, we continue to invest in our people, our proprietary accelerators and AI capabilities, and the relationships we have built with clients across the sector.
With increasing demand for specialist expertise and outcome-focused delivery, we believe the future belongs to partners who can combine deep industry knowledge with the ability to execute at pace.
At NextWave, that's exactly where we focus.
This investment will support NextWave's continued growth, expansion of the client-facing team, further development of its proprietary accelerators and AI tooling, and the deepening of existing client relationships across the sector.
As part of the investment, Colin Evans joins as Chair. Colin brings extensive experience scaling technology businesses, including as former COO of Detica, the technology and intelligence consultancy acquired by BAE Systems, and as NED of 6point6, the PE-backed financial services technology consultancy acquired by Accenture in 2023.
Why YFM invested
Roshan Puri, Partner at YFM, led the deal alongside Callum Long and David Wrench.
"Financial services firms are under real pressure to move faster on AI and digital transformation and to do it in a way that actually delivers results. What stood out to us about NextWave is that the team understands both sides of that challenge: they have the client-side experience to know what good looks like operationally, and the technical capability to get there efficiently.
The business has built something genuinely differentiated in a market where the opportunity is significant and growing. We're looking forward to working with Tony Clark and the wider NextWave team as they continue to scale.”
July 7, 2026