Investment in UK Fintech tops pre-Brexit levels in First Half of 2017
Over half a billion dollars were poured into British financial technology companies in the first half of 2017, over a third more than the same period last year, trade body Innovate Finance said on Wednesday, in the latest sign the fast-growing sector is so far weathering Brexit. UK-based fintech startups pulled in $564 million of venture capital investment in the first six months of the year, more than half of which came from outside Britain. That was up 37 percent from the first half of 2016, and put Britain in third place globally for fintech investment, behind the United States and China. Some had worried that Britain’s vote last June […]
UK fintech start-up Revolut raises $66 million, adds bitcoin
The “global banking alternative” Revolut has raised $66 million in a fund-raising round, the start-up said on Wednesday, in the latest sign that London is so far weathering Brexit to remain a global financial-technology center. Led by Europe- and San Francisco-based venture capital fund Index Ventures, the fund-raising round was one of the biggest ever Series B rounds in Europe. It should provide some comfort to the British capitol as it jostles to hold onto its reputation as Europe’s leading hub for the nascent fintech sector. The investment dwarfs the 19.5 million pounds ($25 million) raised by London-based rival Monzo in its Series B round earlier this year. Revolut, which […]
London fintech Curve closing in on $10M Series A
Curve, the London fintech startup that offers a platform that lets you consolidate all your bank cards into a single Curve card and manage your money, is on the verge of closing $10 million in Series A funding. According to sources, the round, which could be announced as soon as this week, is being led by Connect Ventures, with participation from Santander Ventures, the venture arm of Spain-headquartered bank Santander Group. A number of other investors from the fintech and banking world are also participating, although I haven’t been able to pin down who they are. It is also not clear if this Series A includes an earlier bridge round […]
London ‘defends title as Europe’s tech hub with record investment so far in 2017’
London appears to be defending its title as Europe’s tech hub – at least for now. According to figures published by London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s promotional agency, venture capital firms pumped more than £1.1bn into the city’s technology sector over the last six months. London’s tech sector attracted more venture capital investment over that period than any other European city since the Brexit vote, including Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam. More than four times the amount of investment was recorded than at the same stage during 2013 and more than during any other six-month time period in the last decade. Investment across the whole of the UK topped […]
Fintech startup Tide got a $14 million boost
Banking startup Tide raised $US14 million in one of the largest Series A funding rounds closed by a fintech company this year. Tide, a digital-only banking app aimed at small businesses, has also partnered with online lender iwoca, in a move to allow small companies access to loans of up to £100,000. The funding round was led by specialist fintech investor Anthemis, along with Passion Capital, LocalGlobe and Creandum, the company that backed Spotify. Tide plans to almost double its London team by the end of the year, and develop more features to make online banking for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) more efficient. Some of these features, says […]
MortgageGym receives £500K investment from Henry Ritchotte
MortgageGym, a UK-based regulated mortgage robo-adviser, received a personal investment of £500k from Henry Ritchotte. Ritchotte, former Chief Operating Officer and member of the management board of Deutsche Bank AG, was also appointed as an adviser. He has over 24 years’ experience in the investment banking and financial services industries. Since leaving Deutsche earlier this year, Ritchotte has been making early stage investments in financial services firms with a focus on disruptive regulatory- and technology-driven business models. He previously held the role of ‘Head of Digital Bank’ at Deutsche. Ritchotte previously worked as Deutsche’s Chief Digital Officer on projects to digitalise banking services. Other roles at Deutsche included Chief Operating […]
LandlordInvest raises seed funding from Alan Gabbay, Director of O&H Properties
LandlordInvest, one of the first fully FCA authorised peer-to-peer lending platforms for residential mortgages, raises seed funding from Alan Gabbay, Director of O&H Properties, a London based privately owned property investment firm with assets valued at approximately £1 billion. LandlordInvest was launched at end of 2016 by founders Filip Karadaghi, Nikolajs Smirnovs and Joe Vallender and became the first peer-to-peer lending platform to offer a residential property-backed Innovative Finance ISA (“IFISA”) to UK savers, targeting tax-free returns of up to 12% per annum. The company’s achievements were recently highlighted by the industry as LandlordInvest was shortlisted as the “Crowdfunding Platform of the Year” at the PropertyWire Awards, holding off competition […]
One of the world’s fastest growing fintech platforms started as a side project — now it’s coming to the UK
A German fintech business backed by Silicon Valley VC Peter Thiel is planning to launch its investment platform in the UK. Max von Bismarck, Chief Business Officer and Managing Director of Deposit Solutions, told Business Insider at the Money2020 conference in Copenhagen this week that the company plans to launch its Zinspilot platform in Britain later this year. The Hamburg-based startup, founded in 2011, currently has one person based in London and is looking to scale-up UK operations. Von Bismarck said Zinspilot will also likely be re-branded for the British market. Zinspilot is a platform that lets people invest in savings products from a variety of banks across Europe using […]
