Season 7, Post 21: Where creativity, tech and wonder meet
This was the inspiring message that greeted attendees at SXSW London last week, one of whom was your author. For those unfamiliar, the South by South West (abbreviated to SXSW) festival first took place in Austin, Texas in 1987. 700 attendees were present then. The event now attracts over 300,000. London marks the first time SXSW has taken its concept outside America. Spread across multiple venues in East London, an estimated 20,000 people attended talks, start-up pitches, music and other live events.
A swathe of headline-grabbing celebrities were in attendance including Sir Tony Blair, David Cameron and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. All inevitably talked about the growing prominence of London as a tech hub. From the world of tech, DeepMind co-founder Sir Demis Hassabis was joined by the co-founder of Wayve and many more. CEOs of blue-chip companies including British Airways and WPP were also present. Many of these events were impossible to get into, standing room only, or viewable just on exterior big screens. More interesting for your author was to listen to the people who may become the next-generation of tech luminaries. Talks on the future of AI and fintech were among the most compelling.
Begin with AI. If there were a commonality across presenters in their messages then it was quite emphatically that AI will not damage artistic creativity. Needless to say, such a viewpoint at an event like SXSW is self-serving. A more nuanced take from several industry figures suggested that we may be approaching the AI trough of disillusionment (per Gartner’s hype cycle). While it has never been easier to spin up an AI-inspired proof of concept, creating business value remains a significant challenge. Practical and monetizable use-cases are hard to come by. It was, however, impressive to hear the co-founder of ElevenLabs speak of how it had developed a lead in how to convert text to speech, powering human-like voice agents for customer support, scheduling, education, entertainment and more. Better voice experiences can clearly help build trust.
Trust was the resonating message from talking with players within the fintech space. If AI agents are to shop on our behalf, then we will need to trust them to fulfil our needs effectively. Equally, brands will need to trust agents. Their narrative may have to change from aesthetic to practicalities (ease-of-return, availability and so on). Effective monitoring will be critical from both perspectives. Trust too is growing in crypto with even a representative from the Bank of England making the case for a “digital pound” at SXSW. This is part of the “sea change” approach to legitimising digital assets across the world, according to the founder of Coinbase, whom we also heard speak. With crypto accounting for fewer than 1% of payment flows today, the runway is significant. Expect to hear more on this topic (and many others) at SXSW London 2026. We’ll be there.
10 June 2025
The above does not constitute investment advice and is the sole opinion of the author at the time of publication. Past performance is no guide to future performance and the value of investments and income from them can fall as well as rise.
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Alex Gunz, Fund Manager
Photos by the author
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