Silicon Valley giant grows stake in UK fintech star TransferWise
One of the early backers of Facebook is increasing its stake in TransferWise, a British financial technology pioneer, in a move that will be hailed as a vote of confidence in UK start-ups. Sky News has learnt that Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent name in Silicon Valley, has agreed to buy a chunk of shares held by TransferWise’s initial ‘angel’ investors. Andreessen is said to have agreed to the purchases in recent weeks at a valuation broadly consistent with TransferWise’s last major fundraising in May 2016, according to people close to the situation. Founded by two former Skype employees, TransferWise has grown rapidly since its launch, and now acts as a […]
Fintech startup Squirrel is crowdfunding fresh investment on SyndicateRoom
A fintech startup whose app helps people better manage their money is seeking fresh funding via crowdfunding. Squirrel is seeking to raise £400,000 on equity crowdfunding platform SyndicateRoom, with £100,000 of that already promised by angel investor Jos Evans. The two-year-old startup offers users a bank account and budgeting features and already has more than 5,000 users and £2.9m managed through the app. It will use the new funds to expand its service, particularly focusing on the students and pensioners. “Engaging online investors in a fundraise has been a route that we’ve been considering for some time,” said founder and chief executive Mutaz Qubbaj. “However, it was crucial to reach […]
Funding Circle: A $100m vote of confidence in the UK’s Peer-to-Peer Lending industry
The news that Funding Circle has raised another $100m from a group of well-respected institutional investors is welcome news for the peer-to-peer lending sector, which has been showing signs of vulnerability of late. The funding round, led by Accel, and supported by investors including Baillie Gifford, DST Global, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Rocket Internet, Sands Capital Ventures, Temasek and Union Square Ventures, cements Funding Circle’s position as the leading online peer-to-peer marketplace in Europe. To coincide with the announcement, Funding Circle also said yesterday that its total lending to small businesses globally has now reached £2.5bn – including £1.1bn of advances made last year alone. The latest equity investment takes […]
UK robo-advisor Munnypot goes live
Munnypot, a new service offering clear, affordable online financial advice to all is live from today. Munnypot’s founders aim to help close Britain’s financial advice gap, which affects 16 million people1, by making high quality advice available to everyone. Munnypot is an online savings and investment service giving anyone straightforward automated financial advice in a language they can understand, at a fraction of the cost of most financial advisers. The service requires a minimum investment of £25 per month and/or a £250 single investment amount. It provides an intuitive WhatsApp style ‘chat-based’ user-interface that advises people on their savings and investment decisions. Conversational and jargon-free questions, coupled with state of […]
LandlordInvest gains ISA manager status from HMRC
LandlordInvest has been approved by HMRC as an ISA manager, paving the way for the launch of its Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA), Peer-to-Peer Finance News has learnt. The peer-to-peer lender, which specialises in buy-to-let mortgages, gained full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority in early December, following a 24-month application process. The platform will be making an official announcement regarding its HMRC approval later today. The IFISA is a tax-free wrapper around P2P investments heralded as a game-changer for the industry. It is hoped that the ISA brand will open the sector up to a wider range of retail investors, who might have not considered P2P before. At present, just […]
Octopus gets FCA authorisation
OCTOPUS Choice is the latest peer-to-peer lending platform to be granted full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), just nine months after launch. The property lender has attracted almost £45m from lenders and funded 75 deals since it launched last April. Richard Wazacz, head of Octopus Choice, said authorisation now opens the door for the firm to launch its Innovative Finance ISA later this year. “The incredible demand we’ve witnessed in the nine months since launch underlines the level of interest for this sort of investment – and the authorisation that the FCA has now granted us will no doubt give renewed confidence to our fast-growing base of investors,” […]
Robo advisor Scalable reaches £100m of assets
Shortly before Christmas the start-up reached €100m of assets under management in 10 months, making it among the fastest growing robo advice companies. Wealth manager start-up Scalable Capital has past £100m AUM, with assets growing at nearly £5m a week, co-founder and CEO Adam French said in an interview. The firm, which uses automatic algorithms to manage the risk of portfolios on a daily basis, has over 2,500 customers and reached €100m AUM on Dec. 14, 2016. “Reaching this milestone so quickly underlines the trust our clients put into us,” said French. The Munich-based company has an office in London, which French overseas, and also passports into Austria through its […]
JPMorgan-backed InvestCloud buys London fintech Babel for $20 million
A London software company that helps process trades for wealth managers and stockbrokers has been snapped up by Californian fintech InvestCloud for $20 million (£16.4 million). Babel Systems, founded in 2008, helps with middle and back office processing of equities, bonds, and funds, and works with the likes of robo-advisor Nutmeg. The company’s founders and angel investors have spent around £6 million developing its product. Los Angeles-headquartered InvestCloud, founded in 2010, builds software for finance companies to help their interactions with clients online. JPMorgan is one of over 600 customers and the investment bank took and undisclosed stake in the business last September. It has raised over $100 million (£41.1 […]
