Ascendant aims for market leadership in fast-growing “Finance as a Service” sector.

London firms flinder and Next Level Business (NLB) have announced that they are joining in a new group targeting a leadership position in the fast-growing outsourced business finance services sector. The two firms combined have
revenues of some £4m and 200 clients, with particular strength in high-growth Tech, Software, E-commerce and other rapidly growing owner-managed businesses.

Their core services include:

  • Digital Accounting – taking care of the essentials
  • Finance Team services – replaces traditional in-house accountants
  • CFO services – advice and support to help you maximise business potential

In coming together they form a new group, Ascendant, with plans to build a market-leading national firm through organic growth and acquisition.

Next Level Business founder Paul Layte becomes Ascendant’s Group Chief Commercial Officer.

Paul said:

“By combining Next Level Business and flinder we now have a leading position in key sectors in the “Finance as a Service” market, supporting highgrowth businesses.”


“With the backing of Ascendant, we can realistically aspire to a market
leadership position across more sectors, growing both organically and by
bringing other like-minded professional firms into the group.”

Luke Streeter, flinder COO & co-founder, becomes Ascendant’s CEO for “Finance as a Service”.

Luke said:

“Together we now have 5 CFOs and over 50 team members supporting our brilliant clients. By coming together as a group, we can share resources and ideas, and obtain the investment we need to grow even further.”

“With our help, “Finance as a Service” takes care of all the financial management and support needs of our clients, so they can concentrate on growing their business. It’s the fastest-growing part of the accountancy market, and we are delighted that by joining Ascendant we’ll be playing an even bigger part in it.”


Alastair Barlow, flinder CEO & co-founder, is becoming a consultant to Ascendant and will support the group with growth through acquisition.

Alastair said:

“We explored over 20 options and realised that Ascendant was the clear choice for flinder’s next chapter. With our shared vision, cultural alignment, and appetite for innovation, we now have a powerful platform for growth and prime opportunity to be the market leader in Finance as a Service.

I’m excited for everyone on the journey; our people, clients and new acquisitions, as we gain the scale and resources to accelerate our vision, allowing us to deliver more value and impact to our clients.”


David Inglesfield, Ascendant Group CEO said:

“Paul, Luke, Alastair and their teams have created something amazing. NLB and flinder combined make a great foundation for our growth plans. We look forward to working with them to take it to a leadership position across many other business sectors and the country as a whole.”

About Ascendant


Ascendant Is a business created to build a market leadership position providing accountancy and finance services for growing owner-managed businesses.

Ascendant provides a central platform for quality accountancy firms, allowing them to grow faster by sharing resources and best practice and accessing Investment capital and expertise.

Ascendant is an equity partnership with regional firms whose partners retain equity and join Ascendant’s central management team to help grow the business overall.