An Aurum year in review: 2024 ‍

2024 marked Aurum Solution’s 20^th birthday, making it a year to celebrate regardless of what entailed. However, looking back on how far we had come was not going to be theme of 2024. Instead, it ended up being a year of successes, expansion, and the beginning of many new journeys.

Portugal expansion

The year began with the first Aurum employees settling into our over-seas office in the Portuguese town of Braga. Well respected for being home to high-tech universities and renowned for retaining talent thanks to the area being synonymous with software development, this expansion to Braga complemented our wish to further evolve our automation platform.

Since the start of the year though, the team has grown significantly, seeing Aurum Solutions' Portuguese presence already move offices. Now, as a team of nearly 20, they continue to reside in Braga but at a larger office.

With the Portuguese office being the development engine behind transforming our vision for Aurum into reality, it is crucial that it acts as a space that inspires collaboration. Boasting large green spaces both inside and outside it achieves this for our Portuguese team on a day-to-day basis. However, as a company seeking collaboration on an international scale, we’re pleased to say that it has also hosted many team building and collaboration trips between our two offices.

Fintech recognition

Having ventured abroad, in our original backyard of the Thames Valley region in the UK, success was waiting for us in the form of awards. Across the categories of Fintech Company of the Year, High Growth Company of the Year, Tech Leader of the Year, and Rising Star in Tech both Aurum CEO, Tiago Veiga, and Aurum CMO, Vasco Vaz Rodrigues, Aurum Solutions received an unprecedented 5 nominations for the 2024 Thames Valley Tech and Innovation Awards.

With Reading being the UK’s number one tech cluster and part of the Thames Valley region, there was a lot of high-quality competition for every award. However, at the end of the award ceremony held at Reading Football Club’s stadium, Aurum Solutions proudly walked away with Fintech Company of the Year and the Rising Star in Tech Award was presented to our CEO, Tiago Veiga.

The trophies now sit proudly in our brand-new Reading office ...

Moving to the heart of Reading

Off the back of our Thames Valley Tech Awards success, we reaffirmed our commitment to the region by moving into a new office in the heart of Reading. Situated within the exciting Station Hill development, Thames Tower became the new home of Aurum Solutions in 2024.

With three times more space than our previous office, plenty of natural light, breakout rooms, and only a stone's throw away from Reading Station which can be travelled from to reach London in just 20 minutes, the team are now in a position for even greater collaboration both internally and with partners when welcoming them to our flagship office.  

Coincidentally, the move aligned with the same month of our 20^th birthday, providing us with the perfect reason to host a joint “New Office and Birthday” rooftop celebration.

New faces

Moving into larger spaces both in the UK and Portugal were with good cause. After all, in 2024 we welcomed grew our headcount by a third.  

From development to delivery, sales to QA, all departments continued to grow this year. Collectively and individually, our new starters have already made fantastic contributions to both the culture at Aurum plus the products and services we deliver to our partners.

Ultimately, with new people come new dynamics, new ideas, and new memories – we can’t wait to see what they’ll bring in 2025.  

New partnerships

New relationships weren’t only developed internally at Aurum in 2024. There were also many new ones to welcome in the form of new clients, or as we like to call them – partners.

Just like with our team members, we ensure that collaboration is at the core of our relationship with all our partners. As such, we are excited to share with them what more is to come from Aurum in 2025 and hear from them how we can tailor our solutions to meet their ever-evolving needs.

No matter whether they operate in the payments, hospitality, banking, insurance, property management, or any other industry, we can’t wait to help them defy financial complexity.

Sharing our expertise

It’s not just new partners that we’ve been talking to this year. With our mission being to simplify financial processes so that professionals can deliver greater value and productivity, we know that there is the need to share ideas across the industry which is perpetually facing disruption.

After all, in 2024 we have seen progress in digital public payment infrastructures, BaaS come under threat, the prospect of new CASS-style regulations for payment firms come to the fore, and all whilst the discussion over the application of AI in our sector rages on.

As such, we are proud to have been part of the conversation on these topics in publications such as The Telegraph, The Banker, The Times, CityAM, and many more, plus participated in a variety of in-person discussions such as the Thames Valley Supercharging Tech Growth Roundtable.

2025 will undoubtedly result in further interesting developments to unpack, opportunities to seize with open hands, and those to warn against. Let’s keep the conversations going!

Card scheme reconciliation

Talking to others has always been a source of inspiration for supercharging the progress of the Aurum platform, and 2024 was no different.  

There are many new developments to choose from, including the fact that our platform has become 73% faster at loading data and 44% faster at reconciling over the course of the year; however, one we are particularly proud of is launching our Card Scheme Reconciliation solution.

Designed with card acquirers and issuers in mind, it is capable of reconciling high volumes of transactions from card schemes and payment processors, ensuring accuracy of and granular financial control over scheme settlements, as well as compliance with client fund safeguarding requirements. In addition, the platform can push out the mandatory Scheme QOC and QMR quarterly reports, all from one place.

It’s already up and running for some clients, saving them time and boosting their productivity, and we can’t wait to see who else it will benefit in 2025.  

What is to come

Overall, 2024 was a fantastic year for everyone at Aurum Solutions. Whether it was recognition for the company in the form of awards, the opening of new offices, or the launching of solutions dreamed up by our collective minds, there has been lots to celebrate.

However, with a moment of time remaining to reflect on 2024, it is worth noting that it was collaboration and shared success that saw every moment of note become a reality this year.