Banking challenger Monese tops 1m customers May 3, 2019 British banking startup Monese has surpassed the 1m customer milestone, as user growth tripled in the last year alone. The banking app, which counts Monzo, Revolut and Starling Bank among its rivals, said over 3,000 people are now joining Monese every day across its dual UK and European current accounts. Read more: Fintech startup Monese crashes [...]
London startup Checkout.com raises $230m in Europe’s largest ever fintech series A May 2, 2019 London-based fintech firm Checkout.com has raised $230m (£176.6m) from investors Insight Partners and DST Global, marking the largest European early-stage fintech raise to date. It is also the largest series A fintech fundraise globally of all time. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Blossom Capital, Endeavor Catalyst and other strategic investors also participated in the round. With [...]
AI-powered fintech chatbot Plum closes $4.5m funding round May 2, 2019 Money management chatbot Plum has raised a fresh $4.5m (£3.45m) in funding to bring it to a total raise of $6.3m, it confirmed today. Read more: Former HSBC trader's fintech startup raises £3.8m from the crowd VC outfit Venture Friends, along with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), led the funding round for [...]
Former HSBC trader’s fintech startup raises £3.8m from the crowd May 1, 2019 Dozens, a challenger banking startup founded by a former trader from HSBC, closed a crowdfunding round of more than £3.8m on Seedrs yesterday. The firm had initially set a target of £3.5m, but exceeded that amount with more than 2,150 investors in 42 countries. Read more: Philip Hammond says UK fintech sector will attract talent [...]
Tech sector activity gets a boost despite falling optimism April 30, 2019 Business activity growth in the UK technology sector has recovered to its fastest pace since the second quarter of 2018, while optimism fell to a 10-year low. The strength of business activity rose to 54.4 in the first three months of 2019, up from 52.3 at the end of last year, according to data from [...]
Tech sector activity gets a boost despite falling optimism April 30, 2019 Business activity growth in the UK technology sector has recovered to its fastest pace since the second quarter of 2018, while optimism fell to a 10-year low. The strength of business activity rose to 54.4 in the first three months of 2019, up from 52.3 at the end of last year, according to data from [...]
What women want? Fairness and flexibility at work April 30, 2019 Gender inequality across UK businesses remains rife. According to a recent KPMG survey, more working women than men primarily choose their jobs due to locality and flexibility of working hours. In an age of tech-enabled agile working, there is no justifiable rationale for these factors to be more of a concern for women than men. [...]
Why FinTechs are barking up the wrong tree April 30, 2019 While fintechs wave the flag of disruption and chant ‘financial inclusion for all’, the knights that promise to save the masses from the vagaries of traditional financial services have a more pressing agenda – profit. Both nascent and established players in consumer-facing financial service industries are searching for the holy grail that delivers droves of [...]
Wealth management apps could ‘eclipse’ traditional channels, EY finds April 30, 2019 Digital wealth management apps could “eclipse” traditional channels as clients move towards new technology faster than previously anticipated, new research shows. The popularity of mobile apps among wealth management clients has increased faster than predicted, with 41 per cent of clients saying they would prefer to use a mobile app over websites, face-to-face interaction and [...]
Londoners are bolstering the latest fintech generation April 30, 2019 Have you ever thought about the role of Londoners in guaranteeing the UK as the fintech capital of the world? Our capital is currently hosting UK Fintech Week, an opportunity to showcase and celebrate the businesses transforming our best export: financial services. On Crowdcube, the crowdfunding platform I work for, there are now over 67,000 [...]