James Hickson is the founder of Bloom, Europe’s leading revenue-based financing platform for early-stage businesses. Prior to founding Bloom, James spent 16 years at Morgan Stanley, working across the UK, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, and New York, where he led the firm’s Fintech initiatives.
Under his leadership, Bloom became a recognized player in the European fintech landscape and was successfully acquired.

An award-winning fintech CEO and accomplished writer, James has been featured in leading publications such as Entrepreneur, The Fintech Times, Business Insider, The European Business Review, Delano, Thomson Reuters, and World Finance. He is a regular media commentator on topics including fintech, lending, cryptocurrencies, security token offerings (having delivered Europe’s first fully regulated issuance), banking, and consumer technology trends.

Originally from London, James holds a first-class honours degree in Computer Science and completed an Executive MBA while at Morgan Stanley. He mentors early-stage founders through The Founder Institute and sits on the boards of several scale-up and private equity-backed companies.