Monzo hits 2m customer milestone as fintech race heats up May 20, 2019 Digital banking darling Monzo's current account is set to surpass 2m customers today, as it races to catch up with London rival Revolut. The two fintech startups have been locked in an intense race to command market share in the nascent mobile banking sector, as well as to expand overseas. Read more: Monzo to roll [...]
Amazon leads £450m Deliveroo funding round as startup expands London tech team May 17, 2019 Deliveroo today confirmed Amazon is leading a $575m (£450m) funding round in the food delivery business as it plans to expand its London engineering team with some of the cash. Read more: Amazon in talks to invest millions in Deliveroo The round, including money from existing investors T Rowe Price, Fidelity Management and Greenoaks, takes [...]
Monzo backer Accel raises $575m fund for European and Israeli startups May 16, 2019 London venture capital stalwart Accel has today announced its sixth fund for Europe's early-stage startups, closed at a final raise of $575m (£440m). The fund will be managed by a core investment team based in its London office, seeking out entrepreneurs across the continent and in Israel in both consumer and enterprise sectors at series A stage. Accel [...]
DEBATE: Is the term ‘fintech’ becoming redundant? May 13, 2019 Is the term ‘fintech’ becoming redundant? Rhys Powell, UK managing director at EBO.ai, says YES. It’s true that the fintech revolution has brought about positive business change, but to stay relevant in today’s modern business world, all financial organisations have had to harness the power of technology. As such, it’s now almost impossible to define where general [...]
When women ruled the coding world: Female programmers have been written out of history – it’s time to turn back the clock May 9, 2019 Coding was once a field dominated by women. From the 1940s to the 1960s, about 90 per cent of computer programmers and systems analysts in the US were female. Hardware was largely run by men, but software was treated as clerical work and offered to women who were good at maths and logical thinking. In [...]
Ocado chips in to £7m round for UK robotics startup Karakuri May 9, 2019 Ocado has led a £7m seed round for UK robotics firm Karakuri, its first investment in a tech startup. Other backers in the round included Hoxton Ventures, Firstminute Capital and Taylor Brothers. The online supermarket chain will use Karakuri's technology to expand its grocery offering after a fire devastated one of its automated warehouses. It [...]
London fintech startup Transfergo picks up an additional $3.4m from Seventure May 8, 2019 Money transfer platform Transfergo has added a $3.4m (£2.6m) to its $17.5m series B funding round, as it surpasses 1m customers. The additional investment came from French venture capital firm Seventure Partners, which has previoulsy backed the likes of Push Doctor and Sum Up. Read more: London startup Checkout.com raises Europe's largest ever fintech series A [...]
Small businesses to be given artificial intelligence boost May 7, 2019 London may be the artificial intelligence (AI) capital of Europe, but City Hall believes the benefits of AI are failing to trickle down to small businesses. The mayor Sadiq Khan will give 200 small businesses in London a share of £200,000 to enhance their use of AI. “London is a leading hub for innovation in [...]
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 [...]