London is renown for its prowess in the global FinTech scene, but that’s not to say that financial technology companies based outside of the capital are not raising the stakes when it comes to raising funds from VCs.
We take a look at Tech City News’ investment tracker and pull out the top 5 FinTech raises that have taken place so far this year.
1. Atom Bank
First up is Atom Bank’s staggering £83m raise, announced at the beginning of March. The Durham-based firm drew support from multinational Spanish banking group BBVA, Neil Woodford and Toscafund Asset Management. At the time of the announcement, which came after a series of publications said musician and tech enthusiast Will.i.am was looking to pen a deal with the company and join is board of advisors , reports claimed the firm had reached a valuation of £261m. Founded in 2014, the firm has now raised $268.14m (£213.6m) to date. Other investors in Atom Bank include Anthemis Group, Chris Adelsbach and Polar Capital Holdings.
2. CurrencyCloud
Just a few days later, CurrencyCloud, a London-based cross border payments platform, made headlines when it announced the closure of a £20m Series D led by GV (formerly Google Ventures). The firm also received support from existing investors Notion Capital, Shapphire Ventures, Rakuten FinTech Fund and Anthemis. The five year old business provides APIs for firms using international financial transactions and claims to have over 200 users in 35 different countries. Speaking at the time, Mike Laven, the CEO, said the money would be used to boost the company’s international expansion. CurrencyCloud has raised $59.42m (£47.3m) to date.
3. Monzo
The London-based challenger bank comes in at third place after it announced a £19.5m Series C on 23rd March. The company attracted investment from Thrive Capital, Passion Capital and Orange Digital Ventures. With $45.05m (approximately £40m) in funding raised to date, the company previously closed a £4.8m bridging round led by Passion Capital in October last year, raising its valuation to £50m. Monzo has also resorted to equity crowdfunding in the past, landing £2.5m in February 2017 and £1m in March 2016.
4. CompareEurope Group
Headquartered in London, the company closed a £17.3m Series A round in January, attracting support from a wide range of investors including ACE & Company, Pacific Century Group, Nova Founders Capital and SBI Holdings, Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga and Peter Thiel. The firm seeks to digitise and automate banking, insurance and telco advisory and brokerage jobs. It uses AI to help its users find and choose the most suitable products to meet their needs. Speaking at the time, co-founder and CMO Thomas Munk, said: “We want to radically improve the way consumers buy banking, insurance and telco products.”
5. Dealflo
Holtzbrinck Ventures, Notion Capital and Frog Capital invested in London-based Dealflo’s Series B, announced at the end of February. The firm raised £10m following a £3.5m Series A in June 2014. Founded in 2012, Dealflo is an end-to-end financial agreement automation service, which claims to decrease risk and cost while increasing conversion and sales. The company says it processes over $10bn worth of global transactions a year and is used by the likes of BNP Paribas, BMW and Prudential.