Softbank plugs $200m into European-focused Abu Dhabi tech fund February 18, 2019 Japanese investment giant Softbank is said to have stumped up half of the cash for Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala's new $400m (£309.5m) fund for European tech startups. Mubadala, which has conversely contributed around $15bn to Softbank's $100bn Vision Fund, said last week that its venture arm would be launching the $400m tech fund this year. The move will involve a number of Mubadala's [...]
Berlin banking tech startup behind N26 and Oaknorth nabs €30m from Skype-backer Bessemer February 18, 2019 Software-as-a-service startup Mambu, which provides banking rails to the likes of N26 and Oaknorth, has raised €30m (£26.3m) from the world's oldest venture capital firm. Bessemer Venture Partners, which has backed the likes of Skype, Linkedin and Pinterest, led the round with participation also coming from Acton Capital, the venture arm of Commerzbank, Point Nine Capital [...]
Google and Salesforce inject $75m into London’s Gocardless February 18, 2019 City fintech firm Gocardless has raised $75m (£58.1m) in a series E funding round, led by new investors Adam Street Partners and the venture capital arms of Google and Salesforce. The company aims to fix the way businesses collect invoices and make recurring payments by building debit technology on top of the world’s existing banking systems. Chief [...]
Business lender Iwoca rakes in £150m financing from Augmentum Fintech and NIBC February 18, 2019 Small business lending challenger Iwoca has closed a total fundraise of £150m, led by an earlier £7.5m investment from London-listed fund Augmentum Fintech. City A.M. understands the raise was made up of a £20m series D equity funding round and £130m in debt capital. Existing investor Prime Ventures also participated, alongside NIBC Bank. A person [...]
Mark Kleinman: Aviva’s missed deadline ensures brickbats February 15, 2019 Viva Aviva? For such a stalwart of blue-chip boardrooms, Sir Adrian Montague suddenly can’t put a foot right. Four years after taking over the chairmanship of Aviva when John McFarlane scuttled off to Barclays, he’s ended up in a rather large pickle of his own making. Sacking Mark Wilson as the insurer’s chief executive last [...]
Starling banks £75m funding round from Merian Global Investors February 13, 2019 Starling Bank, one of fintech's Big Three digital banking stalwarts, has closed a £75m funding round led by Merian Global Investors. The challenger bank said £60m was provided by Merian, formerly known as Old Mutual, which included a £19m injection from Merian's equity investment firm Chrysalis. The round was closed out with £15m from Starling's sole existing investor [...]
Blockchain startup Chainalysis targets London with $30m raise from Accel February 12, 2019 Crypto compliance startup Chainalysis has raised $30m (£23.3m) from venture capital giant Accel to open an office in London's Soho. The US firm's series B round was supported by existing investor Benchmark, which upped its stake in the company after funding Chainalysis' $16m series A last year. Chainalysis said it will use the proceeds from the round to open [...]
The UK’s fintech sector hits record level of investment as startups turn into scale-ups February 12, 2019 Investment into the UK's blossoming fintech sector broke records last year, as the country's startups reached a new stage in their growth journey. Venture capital and private equity investment in British fintech rose to an all-time high of $3.3bn (£2.6bn), up 18 per cent compared to 2017's levels, according to data published today by Innovate Finance. [...]
Revolut’s Valentine’s Day advert caused a social media storm – and shows the pitfalls of using comedy in marketing February 11, 2019 Roses are red, violets are blue, there’s a company in hot water and it’s called Revolut. The fintech challenger bank, which offers a mobile-based banking service, recently launched a new ad campaign of Tube posters that joked about the spending habits of its customers. One of the four adverts read: “To the 11,867 people who [...]
Monzo to roll out business bank accounts in revenue shake-up February 10, 2019 Digital bank Monzo will launch its first business accounts today, as the loss-making challenger attempts to find a more efficient way to generate revenue. The bank will open a waitlist, initially accepting only the first 100 applicants into beta testing. Monzo said it hopes to fully launch accounts for small businesses by the end of [...]