Cisco's mission is to build new connections, whether that's in the physical, digital or social space. Today people connect across networks in various ways, but the fact remains: meeting new people, catching up with peers and extending one's network are each as relevant as ever.

The Cisco Networking Lounge at Wired Money fostered such connections. The event, held on July 1 was the first of a new series of annual one-day summits with the aim of showcasing the most disruptive sector of the year. In 2013, that's banking, money and finance. Over the course of the single day, two hundred delegates came together with over 20 speakers to form countless new ideas and relationships.

As the networking partner for Wired Money, Cisco provided a dedicated network lounge, to ensure anyone who wanted to connect with others could do so with ease. And to maximise its effectiveness, a team of hosts was also on hand to facilitate new meetings.

In keeping with the theme, David Rowan, Wired editor, opened the day by asking the global audience "not be British", and meet as many fellow attendees as possible. So, did it work?

To find out four delegates from across the financial tech sector recorded their experiences of the day both in and around the Cisco Networking Lounge.

The connections they made and why it's important to them and their business.

Cynan Rhodes

Founder, Crossbridge;
FTSEE.com

Cynan Rhodes has founded a number of successful projects, including a financial consultancy and a TV network. His current company, Ftsee.com delivers real-time data feeds and analytics for each major US/UK security and financial exchange (FX) pair, distilled from Twitter. Australian born, Rhodes has lived in London for over a decade.

Jon Vollemaere

Co-Founder, FXecosystem;
LetstalkFX

From Barclays' Stockbrokers financial exchange platform to Reuters eFX, Jon Vollemaere has worked in countless financial roles. More recently, he cofounded the low-latency trading network FXecosystem, as well as the trading community LetstalkFX. He acts as an adviser to a number of early stage financial technology firms.

James Chappell

Co-Founder & CTO;
Digital Shadows

James Chappell cofounded security firm Digital Shadows in 2011. The company offers a cyber-monitoring service that secures companies' "digital footprints" – information posted online that amasses over time via social media, cloud services and mobile devices. Digital Shadows was runner-up in the Cisco BIG Awards 2012 for innovative startups.

Thomas Gatten

Founder & CEO;
Growth Intelligence

Growth Intelligence, founded by Thomas Gatten, allows salespeople to track the performance and activity of every businesses in the economy in real time, to pinpoint sales opportunities. Tom defined the original algorithms and the theoretical principles and has worked previously at the BBC World Service and the Times of India.

Who met who?

This graphic represents the connections made by just four delegates at Wired Money, illustrating just a fraction of the
hundreds – if not thousands – of meetings, conversations and potential partnerships that took root on the day.