Slaughter and May has awarded a pay-per-mile startup insurance company £15,000 in free legal advice after a Dragon's Den-style competitive pitching process.

By Miles beat four other startups to secure the investment through Slaughters' 'Fintech Fast Forward' entrepreneurs' programme.

The company is one of 11 to have been selected for the programme by Slaughters since 2016, with each receiving an initial £30,000 in free legal advice and value-added services such as access to model legal documentation and coaching on pitching and presentations.

Slaughters then decided to gift one startup with an additional £15,000, selecting five firms to compete for the prize.

Financial services partner Ben Kingsley, who co-hosted the pitching competition earlier this month with the firm's head of technology and outsourcing Rob Sumroy, said: "We wanted to create a sense of community among the companies that are in the programme, but it was as much about spreading the news within our firm to the many lawyers and non-legal staff who have been very interested in what we're doing.

"We also invited clients and other industry contacts to see at first hand what we've been doing through the programme, so in that sense there was a broader client angle to the day too."

By Miles beat data analytics business Digital Fineprint, machine-learning company Multiply, financial services innovator TrueLayer and private company valuation business Valsys to secure the prize.

The competition consisted of two rounds, with the first seeing each team pitch their company for four minutes. They then had three additional minutes to respond to questions from a judging panel and the audience, with the audience selecting a winner based on whether they were entertaining, inspiring, ambitious and convincing. Based on these categories, the audience selected By Miles.

For the second round, the companies had to prepare a two-minute presentation based on a list of questions provided by the judging panel. As the winner in the first round, By Miles got the first choice on questions and presented first. Question options included: "If you were Prime Minister for the day, what three initiatives would you launch for the fintech community?"; and "Rank the following in order of importance: profit; societal benefit; playing fair; having fun."

The judging panel selected By Miles as the overall winner, with the panel stating it had "enraptured us with the simplicity and huge value-add of the company".

The judging panel comprised: Mish Mashkautsan, partner at seed-stage venture capital firm LocalGlobe; Phil Pearson, partner at technology investor Invoke Capital; Dan Cobley, managing partner, fintech, at venture builder Blenheim Chalcot; Slaughters corporate partner Sally Wokes; and Slaughters head of knowledge management Alex Woods.

Going forward, the firm is considering running a similar event again. Kingsley said: "Given the success of the day and the great feedback we've received, it is definitely something we can aspire to run again. But, as with the [Fintech Fast Forward] programme itself, there are no fixed dates."

The firm hopes that once its startups are more established, they will become regular clients. "Once companies use up their £30,000 runway we consider them graduated from the programme, but this doesn't mean we end the relationship," says Kingsley. "Our aspiration is to spawn new 'traditional' client relationships from the programme, and we are happy to have continued working with four of the five companies that have so far graduated."