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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
UK fintech shrugs off Brexit, trumps Germany
Research from Fintech Global shows that despite the Brexit vote investors continue to commit more capital to UK fintech companies. Since the Brexit result many years of uncertainty for markets and teh broader economy have set in to investors’ expectations. Quickly shifting news agendas and polling results have been an ongoing feature of Brexit Britain and prompted stock market and currency volatility. The imminent general election has only increased the trend and that is before official talks begin in three weeks time. The ‘Brexit effect’ was notable for its hit to investment in the UK’s world-class fintech scene as well with the questions over the City’s competitive edge in the […]
Robo-advice platform completes £2m funding round
MortgageGym, which according to its creators is the world’s only regulated mortgage robo-adviser, has completed a £2m seed funding round ahead of its launch. The platform has raised over £1.3m in cash and technology development finance through deals with fintech investors Gaby Salem of Wharton Asset Management, China Pacific Capital and Trifecta Capital. MortgageGym expects to announce its strategic distribution partnerships within the next three months, and its official launch is set for the summer. The FCA-authorised service will allow homebuyers to complete their mortgage application online in 15 minutes through a free, hybrid advice website offering mortgage eligibility matching within 60 seconds, regulated robo-advice and access to live advisers. […]
MarketInvoice secures £45m from Banco BNI Europa
UK-based MarketInvoice has signed an agreement with Banco BNI Europa (BNI), which will now provide £45 million annually to fund working capital for SMEs on the platform. MarketInvoice is now the world’s largest peer-to-peer online invoice finance marketplace, having funded over 70,000 invoices worth more than £1.2 billion since its launch in 2011. Today, the UK business has signed an agreement with Banco BNI Europa (BNI), which will now provide £45 million in funding annually on the marketplace to fund working capital for MarketInvoice customers. BNI trialled an investment last year of £28.3 million, which went into funding SMEs on the platform seeking invoice finance. After the success of that […]
Bitbond secures £4.2m to fund SME loans
Global bitcoin peer-to-peer lending platform Bitbond has received a €5m (£4.2m) commitment from Obotritia Capital to fund small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loans. The Potsdam-based investment firm, which usually channels its funds into German commercial real estate, has also bought an equity stake in Bitbond, although the terms of that deal were not disclosed. With the new debt facility, SME loans will be funded instantly on Bitbond’s platform, reducing the time it takes business owners to apply and receive a loan to 30 minutes. The equity investment will be used for further product development and marketing, to grow Bitbond’s user base. “The debt commitment by Obotritia brings Bitbond to the […]
Fintech startup Quantexa raises $3.3Mn to support international expansion
Quantexa Limited, a FinTech startup, has managed to rake in $3.3 million in a Series A round led by Albion Ventures and HSBC. The company, based in London, uses big data analytics to go head to head against complex financial crime. Its Entity Resolution and Network Analytics software makes use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to gather information from disparate data sets and create insights. Its applications include the following features: – Protection against financial losses and reputational damage with data analytics and entity and network based techniques. – Creation of an integrated, networked view of customers across disparate data sources, in order to support all areas of your […]
