Startup Focus: Code & Pepper
Date: 30 July 2025
Author: FINTECH Circle
Code & Pepper builds FinTech software that works. For over 18 years now. From mobile apps to full systems – we design, build, and deliver.
Let’s start with the basics—what’s Code & Pepper?
We’re a software partner for startups in FinTech and HealthTech. Been doing this for almost 20 years. We help growth-stage companies build strong digital products without the overhead of hiring full in-house teams.
Our work splits into three main areas: team augmentation, full product builds, and integrations—especially AI and cloud. We don’t operate like an outsourcing vendor. We build like an internal team. That means we care about more than delivery we care about results.
Who do you work best with?
Founders and product leads who want to move fast and build right. Most of our clients are from the UK and the US. Some are backed by VCs, others are bootstrapped and scaling.
They usually face one of two problems: they’re growing faster than they can hire, or they’ve hit a wall with product delivery. That’s when they call us.
We’ve worked on lending platforms, investment tools, digital pensions, patient engagement apps, pharmacy platforms—you name it.
Give us an example of what that looks like in practice.
Smart Pension is a good one. They were growing fast but needed more hands. We helped them grow their dev team by 400%, enabled daily deployments, and prepped their product for international markets.
Then there’s Finbourne and their LUSID. They had a powerful backend, but the frontend needed work. We stepped in with Angular, cleaned up the UX, and helped ship a better version of LUSID without slowing anything down.
Pelago is another. Their goal was to engage patients better. We built a mobile AI feature that made it happen.
What’s changed in the last year or two?
Everyone’s asking about AI—but with a clear head. Not hype. Teams want real features: smarter forms, better search, data cleanup, chatbot guidance. We’ve built all that.
Cloud cost is another big one. Budgets are tighter, and many startups are stuck with bloated AWS bills. We help cut the waste and design infra that actually scales.
How do you build teams?
We pull from our vetted talent pool—engineers we’ve worked with, tested, and trust. Each one goes through a serious screening: over 70 skill points are assessed.
We don’t just match by tech stack. We look at product experience, industry background, and personality. You might start with one senior dev. If it works, we scale. Some clients grow into full product teams with frontend, backend, DevOps, QA, and design..
Why work with you instead of hiring internally?
It’s faster. More flexible. Less risky.
Hiring takes months. We can add someone to your team in days. Our engineers already know FinTech, HealthTech, compliance, and security. You don’t have to explain what KYC is or how to pass an audit.
And we’re used to jumping into existing teams. We get your process, join your standups, ship clean code, and keep you moving forward.
What makes you a fit for the FinTech Circle community?
We’ve been building in FinTech before it had a name. We understand the real challenges: compliance, scaling, tight deadlines, and tricky integrations.
We’re not here to pitch. We’re here to collaborate. If you need a team that knows what it’s doing or someone to bring AI or cloud expertise to your product, we can help. If you just want to talk through an idea or a blocker, we’ll do that too.
We show up, ship work, and stick around when it matters.
Karol Gajos, CEO of Code & Pepper
You can connect with Karol Gajos on LinkedIn
