Peer-to-peer lender Zopa rakes in £60m fundraising round November 8, 2018 British peer-to-peer lender Zopa will today reveal the final close of its fundraising round at £60m, tacking on an additional £16m in investment to the £44m it raised earlier this year. Though no investor names have been disclosed, Zopa said both new and existing investors participated in the round. Some of its backers to date include [...]
Lloyds invests in new digital banking platform November 7, 2018 Lloyds Banking Group said today it had invested in a fintech company whose tech it plans to roll out next year, in the bank’s latest bid to enhance its digital presence. Lloyds has invested £11m for a 10 per cent stake in Thought Machine, which is building a new cloud-based platform aimed at replacing current [...]
The UK remains ahead of the game in Europe’s tech sector November 6, 2018 The UK has continued to lead the way for funding activity in the European technology sector, both in terms of startups attracting investment and UK-based investors fuelling the continent’s exciting new talent. British startups secured almost a quarter of all early-stage tech investment in Europe in the last three years, according to new figures revealed [...]
Fintech star Monzo joins unicorn ranks with £85m funding round October 30, 2018 Digital banking startup Monzo will today announce the close of a fresh fundraising round at £85m, led by new US investors General Catalyst and Accel as the fintech firm prepares to leap across the pond. Existing investors Passion Capital, Thrive Capital, Goodwater, Orange Digital Ventures and Stripe also participated in the round. The news takes [...]
Looking back on my year as lord mayor, I am fully optimistic about London’s future October 29, 2018 As I approach the end of my year as lord mayor, the pace of activity across the City is accelerating rather than slowing down This week, the governor of Tokyo will visit the Square Mile, further strengthening ties with our Japanese friends after my trip earlier this year. This visit follows the Dutch King and [...]
Royal Mint freezes plans for a gold digital currency on the blockchain October 25, 2018 The Royal Mint has suspended plans to launch a gold digital token, after the government blocked its attempt to list the asset on a cryptocurrency exchange. Royal Mint Gold (RMG) was first floated as a project to place digital tokens, similar to a gold-backed cryptocurrency, worth up to £1bn on a US-based trading platform run by CME in 2016. [...]
TSB’s prolonged IT crisis cost it 16,600 customers October 24, 2018 TSB lost more than 16,600 customers to rivals between April and June, after an IT fiasco prevented up to 1.9m people from accessing their bank accounts. The crisis led to TSB announcing a pre-tax loss of £107.4m during its half-year results in July, down from £108.3m profit in the same period last year. Read more: Investigation [...]
DEBATE: With new research showing Manchester’s rapid growth, is the capital’s tech bubble bursting? October 24, 2018 With new research showing Manchester’s rapid growth, is the capital’s tech bubble bursting? Dominic Harvey, director at CWJobs, says YES. London may steal all the headlines, but as Tuesday’s figures show, Manchester is becoming an ever more dominant force for the tech sector – and the race to secure the UK’s top talent is really [...]
London fintech startups poised to expand in established European hub October 23, 2018 The UK's fintech industry, the country's most funded technology sector, is poised to expand internationally as UK hubs begin to sprout up in destinations such as Amsterdam. Three UK payments fintechs have jointly chosen the Netherlands as their European base, City A.M. has learned, seeking to reinforce their offering for European customers amid regulatory uncertainty. [...]
The UK extends its lead as Europe’s established tech unicorn capital October 23, 2018 London has cemented its standing as the capital of Europe’s billion-dollar technology startups, as surrounding cities help to push the UK forward while its companies expand internationally. New figures released today show the UK has now created 60 so-called unicorn startups – companies with a valuation of $1bn (£769.6m) or more – since 1990, according to [...]