UK fintechs shatter records and attract $24.5bn investment in first half of the year August 10, 2021 Investment in UK fintech has reached an all-time high, as firms in the industry attracted a staggering $24.5bn in the first half of the year across the highest volume of deals on record. British fintech investment across private equity (PE), venture capital (VC) and M&A deals has exploded as the country emerges from the pandemic, [...]
China tech crackdown: From Jack Ma’s disappearance to online tutoring debacle August 5, 2021 Chinese technology giants once seemed untouchable, with billions of profits through aggressive expansion. But that status is now more uncertain after a year of Beijing’s sweeping regulatory crackdowns that have spread like wildfire across sectors. The saga started last October when Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, who founded e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, criticised China for lacking a [...]
Moscow Metro introduces face recognition payment system August 3, 2021 The Tube has Oyster cards and the New York subway its Metrocards, but Moscow’s Metro is going one better – rolling out ticketing based on facial recognition technology. The Face Pay technology use biometric data and bank card details to recognise, and charge, travellers on the Metro. The tech is currently being trialled on the [...]
Michael Spencer-backed fund raises $130m for B2B fintech push August 2, 2021 Fintech-focused venture capital firm Element Ventures has announced a $130m (£93.5m) fund to invest in b2b financial enterprise technology businesses. Michael Spencer, City grandee and founder of interdealer broker Icap, was the fund’s cornerstone investor. It comes after Spencer contributed at least £25m to the fund upon launching last year, via his investment vehicle IPGL. [...]
Exclusive: Islamic fintech founder Junaid Wahedna on why the UK market is firmly on his radar July 28, 2021 The market for Islamic fintech is growing globally, and in the UK. Last month the Boubyan Bank Group announced that the world’s first Islamic international digital bank will be launched in the UK. The global Islamic fintech market is estimated to reach $128bn by 2025, a 161 per cent increase from 2020’s figure, according to [...]
Starling Bank makes first acquisition in bid to expand lending July 26, 2021 British digital lender Starling Bank has struck a £50m deal for specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender Fleet Mortgages, in the first of an expected series of deals to drive growth. Starling, which last week said it was eyeing an IPO over the next two years, has finalised the cash and share deal for Hampshire-based Fleet Mortgages, for [...]
Index Ventures invests $1bn into UK startups and will create 5000 jobs within a year July 23, 2021 Transatlantic venture capital firm Index Ventures has raised $3.1bn in new funds and directly invested $1bn in UK startups to create 5000 British jobs in the next year. Index’s latest cash injection comes just a year after Index raised its last set of $2bn funds. The UK is Index’s single largest destination for investments in Europe, and [...]
Klarna-challenger Zilch strikes $110m deal with Goldman Sachs and Daily Mail owner July 23, 2021 ‘Buy now pay later’ (BNPL) company Zilch today announced it has cut a deal to raise $110m (£80m) in debt and equity from Goldman Sachs and the investment arm of the Daily Mail group. The deal with Goldman Sach’s asset management and private credit division and DMG Ventures, part of the Daily Mail & General [...]
Starling Bank slims losses and eyes potential 2022 IPO July 22, 2021 British digital lender Starling Bank said it had chopped its losses by more than half and was on track for full-year profitability, as it eyes a potential float at the end of next year. Starling reported a loss of £23.3m in the 16 months to the end of March 2021 – less than half its [...]
Exclusive: Clim8 is a green investing platform that wants to distance itself from ESG July 22, 2021 Clim8, a London-based sustainable investing platform, is on a mission to challenge ESG funds so that investors can bypass “greenwashing” and find a portfolio of companies that are having a positive impact on climate change. The platform, which launched its app “Clim8 Invest” in March, today announced it has closed its third funding round. The [...]