London can strengthen its relations with Scotland March 4, 2019 On a brisk evening in January, I had the honour of hosting a Burns Supper at the Mansion House with the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. The night was complete with bagpipes, haggis, and of course a “wee dram” of whisky. The event brought together leading business figures from both sides of the border, [...]
KFC taps London fintech startup Flux for paperless payments March 4, 2019 KFC has launched a partnership with London fintech startup Flux which will see the US fried chicken chain go paperless. From today, users of digital banks Monzo and Starling, as well as select Barclays customers in the near future, will be able to receive digital itemised receipts for transactions in their banking apps when they [...]
Customers unable to access Revolut app after digital bank suffers outage March 1, 2019 Revolut customers were unable to use the digital bank’s app this morning after the firm suffered a technical glitch. The Revolut app was unable to process card top ups and money transfers for at least four hours today while the challenger bank attempted to fix the problem. Read more: Revolut pushes ministers for fast-track tech [...]
Snoop Dogg-endorsed fintech Klarna issues shares in £82m fundraising round March 1, 2019 Online payments firm Klarna has issued shares in a bid to raise 1bn Swedish krona (£82m) from existing investors, and said it will launch a larger external fundraising round later in the year. The Swedish fintech company, which in January welcomed a $2.5bn from none other than rapper Snoop Dogg, acquired a Swedish banking license [...]
Serial fintech entrepreneur Marta Krupinska focused on diversity as she relaunches Google for Startups UK February 28, 2019 Fintech entrepreneur Marta Krupinska has vowed to make diversity a priority as she takes over the reins at the relaunched Google for Startups UK. Read more: Revolut pushes ministers for fast-track tech visas Krupinska, who shot to fame after founding Azimo, the digital money transfer app, has been tasked with overseeing the Google project as [...]
Female fintech leaders highlighted as sector faces continued lack of gender diversity February 28, 2019 Senior figures at major banking and professional services firms including HSBC, Barclays, Schroders and Monzo have been recognised on a list of women excelling in Fintech. A total of 35 women including HSBC head of digital innovation Diana Biggs, Starling Bank founder Anne Boden and Monzo chief technology officer Meri Williams were highlighted on Innovate [...]
Digital banking challenger N26 is expanding to Brazil February 27, 2019 German fintech challenger N26 is expanding to Brazil, making it the first of Europe's biggest retail digital banks to enter the South American market. Announcing the move on stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, N26 said Eduardo Prota would head up the new region. Prota has previously worked for Santander and Cielo, as well as having [...]
London Stock Exchange Group leads $20m Nivaura funding round February 27, 2019 Fintech firm Nivaura has closed a $20m (£15m) seed capital round led by London Stock Exchange Group. The London-based company, which provides blockchain technology for digital investment banking platforms, will use the funding to rapidly expand its leadership, business development and technical teams. Read more: Revolut pushes ministers for fast-track tech visas The company also plans to [...]
Fintech startup Revolut pushes ministers for fast-track tech visas February 21, 2019 London will fall behind as a world-leading fintech hub if the government does not prioritise incoming tech talent, the chief executive of Revolut warned today. Nikolay Storonsky, a Russian native who started digital bank Revolut in 2015, called on ministers to introduce a fast-tracked visa process for technology workers, particularly within software development and data [...]
UK AI sector funding hits record £1bn for 2018, almost the same as the rest of Europe combined February 20, 2019 Investment into the UK’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector from venture capital firms reached a record $1.3bn (£998m) last year, almost as much as the rest of Europe combined. The new figures from Dealroom represent a fourfold increase in five years, up from a total of $200m in 2014. In comparison, French AI startups raised $400m last [...]