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 […]
Investors are preparing to give fintech app Revolut £50 million even though it’s bleeding money
Fast-growing fintech app Revolut is close to sealing a £50 million funding round that will value the nascent company at £300 million, Sky News reports. London VC Index Ventures, already an investor in Revolut, is leading the round, Sky says. Silicon Valley investor Ribbit Capital is also said to be taking part in the round. CEO and founder Nikolay Storonsky told TechCrunch earlier this month that the company was close to “large equity round.” London-based Revolut offers a pre-paid international currency card, initially offering zero-fee, zero-commission foreign exchange. Cash is pre-loaded to the card through an app. The big round and chunky valuation are eye-catching for a number of reasons. […]
Bitcoin price crosses $3,000 milestone to set new all-time high
The price of bitcoin topped $3,000 for the first time in history today, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). After spending much of the last week seeking direction in the $2,700 to $2,900-range, the average price of bitcoin across major international exchanges edged up over this threshold finally at roughly 17:00 UTC. The new record comes at a time when alternative digital assets are seeing robust inflows, with ethereum’s ether token setting a new all-time high of more than $300 today as well. Indeed, analysts spoke to the ongoing broadening of the cryptocurrency market as a tide that is benefitting bitcoin. “The inflows into ‘alts’ are greater than […]
Peer-to-peer lending giant Zopa confirms £32m fundraise
Zopa scoops £32m in a new investment round led by Indian conglomerate Wadhawan Group, as it looks ahead to bank-build. Zopa, the UK’s original peer-to-peer lending platform, has clinched £32m in its first investment round since early 2014, when it raised £15m from Arrowgrass Capital Partners. The money will be used to help build-out the firm’s technology and product range in preparation for the submission of its banking licence application later this year. The investment round has been led by India’s Wadhawan Global Capital Pvt Ltd and European venture capital fund Northzone. Northzone is also an investor in leading invoice finance platform MarketInvoice. Zopa co-founder Giles Andrews currently serves and […]
Almost 40% of Growth Street investors are millennials
Growth Street has revealed that 37.4% of its investors are under the age of 35. The figures go against the views of those who have claimed millennials do not think about saving and investment. Growth Street felt simple digital interfaces and investment products offered by alternative lenders were aimed at giving younger people greater investment flexibility than ever before. Greg Carter, CEO of Growth Street, explained that millennials had traditionally been underserved by conventional investment products. “In the past, investment products have targeted older individuals with higher disposable incomes, but Growth Street is turning this convention on its head. “We’re delighted to see that almost 40% of our investors are […]
Online lender RateSetter valued at over £200 million as it raises £13 million to launch new ISAs
RateSetter, one of the UK’s three biggest peer-to-peer lenders, said on Tuesday it has raised £13 million in equity funding from its existing shareholders. City fund managers Woodford Investment Management and Artemis were both existing investors and took part in the funding round. The funding will be put towards launching its new “Innovative Finance ISA,” a new product that will allow consumers to hold peer-to-peer loans in an ISA. RateSetter plans to launch the product once it receives full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority. RateSetter is the last of the UK’s “Big 3” peer-to-peer lenders waiting for sign-off from the City watchdog. Founded in 2010, RateSetter allows ordinary people […]
