The fintech United Kingdom fifty movers and shakers in 2022

The UK has recently enjoyed a very successful track record in fintech startups. The fintech industry is growing at an incredible rate and, until very recently, has shown no sign of slowing down. New startups and software are introduced yearly to make the financial services industry more efficient and user-friendly. From blockchain technology and digital wallets to Artificial Intelligence and machine learning algorithms, fintech has become incredibly dynamic, with new innovations popping up daily. 

Fintech innovation has significantly impacted the finance sector; from personal finances to business banking, almost every area of finance has been impacted in some way by fintech or related technologies. 

However, with so many different sub-sectors within the financial services industry, it isn’t easy to see precisely where fintech will have its biggest impact on our lives in the future. Here we will take a look at how fintech innovation will impact the future of money and personal finance.

Despite the fast-moving economic conditions, fintech is a significant part of the UK economy and warrants as much support and guidance as possible, especially in growth and opportunity management. 

Despite the current challenging positions, Fintechs will hopefully see continued long-term growth and determine significant competitive advantage—especially the select few who are our clients. But they will have to keep innovating, beating the big banks at customer service and avoid developing products similar to many others in the market. “Me to” product marketing will no longer cut it. 

Innovation within fintechs

We’ve compiled a list of the UK’s 50 leading fintech firms and ordered by the total amount of equity funding they have received.

The innovation behind fintech is to make money for the founders and the business. But still, there is a genuine desire for their innovation to enable financial services to be more efficient and accessible for businesses and consumers. The term fintech includes technology businesses associated with challenger banks, payment processors, budgeting apps, and cryptocurrency. Fintech firms frequently employ artificial intelligence, machine learning algorithms, blockchain, and other digital financial technology. Fintech is considered the 

UK’s most significant startup sector. Fintech has produced over 1400 high-growth fintech businesses, 20 fintech unicorns (about half of the country’s billion-dollar startups), and received more venture capital funding than any other industry. UK fintech firms have raised a total of £21.9b in equity funding, with £7.41b raised in 2021 alone.

The Fintech United Kingdom top 50

These fintech startups and scaleup companies are transforming the traditional banking and financial services industry as they hopefully continue to grow and innovate. As discussed, as Octopus Intelligence is a specialist in supporting fintechs to develop their competitive landscape enablement we have compiled and ranked this list by the amount each fintech has raised publically via private equity rounds and debt financing. 

1. Checkout.com

Amount raised: £1.4bn

Total equity rounds: 4

Location: Hackney, London

Established: 2012

Web: Checkout.com

Startup unicorn Checkout.com develops software for businesses to process online payments in over 150 currencies. Checkout.com’s platform helps manage all payment process stages, combining several payment technologies. It accepts various payment methods, including Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and others. 

Checkout.com provides machine learning to identify risky transactions. A risk-score solution preventing fraudulent activity and secure payments. Clients include Klarna, Sony and Deliveroo. Checkout.com has raised £1.4bn in equity over four funding rounds. It has acquired Pin Payments, ProcessOut and Icefire. Backers include Blossom Capital and Insight Partners.

2. Revolut

Established: 2013

Amount raised: £1.3bn

Equity rounds: 9

Location: Tower Hamlets, London

Web: revolut.com

Unicorn challenger bank Revolut provides financial services and a digital banking app to track, send money, and trade cryptocurrency. 

Revolut serves over 18m customers over the world. They offer several accounts, including free standard accounts, £2.99 per month Plus, £6.99/per month Premium and £12.99/per month Metal accounts. Each plan offers other perks, such as access to cashback in fiat and cryptocurrencies and surcharge-free ATM allowances. In December 2021, Revolut was granted a banking licence by the European Central Bank. And it has acquired Nobly and Wanted and secured £1.3bn investment from Schroders, Seedcamp, Index Ventures, Molten Ventures, Ribbit Capital and Tiger Global.

3. Monzo

Established: 2015

Total amount raised: £930m

Equity rounds: 17

Location: City of London

Web: monzo.com

Monzo is also a challenger bank with more than 6 million customers using them to manage and spend their money worldwide. They employ over 1,600 people in London and Cardiff. Monzo offers three digital banking accounts, including its original no-fee digital bank account, a Monzo Plus at £5 per month and Monzo Premium at £15 per month. Their Premium account includes phone and travel insurance and up to £600 worth of free foreign withdrawals every 30 days. In September 2021, Monzo introduced Monzo Flex. This is their buy-now, pay-later service that allows shoppers to split purchases into three interest-free payments.

4. Starling Bank

Established: 2014

Raised: £720m

Equity rounds: 9

Location: City of London

Web: starlingbank.com

Starling Bank has raised around £720m in equity funding through nine rounds, in addition to a £100m innovation grant in February 2019. It also acquired Fleet Mortgages, a Hampshire-based lender, in July 2021.

Users receive instant spend and income notifications, experience no overseas fees, and receive 24/7 support through the company’s mobile banking app. It’s Bills Manager, which helps customers pay their bills on time and manage their money better. Users can pay Direct Debits and standing orders automatically from a Saving Space.

Starling Bank has been named the Best British Bank for four consecutive years, from 2018 to 2021. It offers a range of consumer and business accounts (personal, joint, business, and euro) with no monthly fees, quick account set-up, and accessible accounting features. In 2021, the fintech firm created its ‘Bills Manager,’ which helps customers pay their bills on time and manage their money. It enables individuals to Direct Debits/standing orders from a Space automatically.

5. OakNorth Bank

Established: 2013

Raised: £640m

Equity rounds: 4

Location: Westminster, London

Web: oaknorth.co.uk

OakNorth Bank’s mission is to design ‘for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs by providing business loans and property finance from £500k to £45m. Offers a loan solution to what they describe as the ‘Missing Middle’. Those businesses contribute most to the UK economy and employment figures. 

Borrowers can attend credit committees to present their business growth plans and funding requirements to decision-makers. Businesses can also open OakNorth business fixed term, easy access and notice savings accounts with what they claim to be competitive AER.

Oaknoth has raised £640m of investment across four rounds and has been listed on a number of high-growth groups. Backers include Clermont Group, NIBC Bank, Softbank Vision Fund and Coltrane Asset Management. 2021 saw OakNorth Bank acquire cashflow software firm Fluidly.

6. Atom

Established: 2013

Raised: £570m

Equity rounds: 13

Location: Durham

Web: atombank.co.uk

Challenger bank Atom was the UK’s first app-based bank to offer digital banking services incorporating mortgages, saving accounts and business loans. Atom’s move from pure current accounts and lack of cards differentiates them from many of its competitors. A customer’s mortgage account can be monitored via the app. Atom’s network of independent brokers has secured around £570m in equity fundraisings across 13 rounds. Investors include Anthemis, Middleton Enterprises, Conviction Investment Partners and Toscafund.

7. SumUp

Established: 2011

Raised: £530m

Equity rounds: 6

Location: Westminster, London

Web: sumup.co.uk

SumUp provides payment processing services for smart devices. SumUp operates in 34 countries on three continents and works with over three million businesses. Payleven, Shoplo, and Tiller, among others, have all been acquired by the company. | Over the last six years, SumUp has developed Payleven, Shoplo, and Tiller, among other firms. Sellers process payments using SumUp smart devices.

SumUp has raised around £530m in equity funding across six funding rounds. Bain Capital Tech, Blackrock, Fin Capital, and other investors provided this funding. SumUp raised £506m in equity and loan funding in June 2022 to expand their product, acquire new companies, and support future acquisitions. Deloitte’s Fast 50 list ranks fintech companies, and the 100 FinTech Disrupters list did the same in 2020.

8. Zopa

Established: 2004

Raised: £520m

Rounds: 13

Location: Southwark

Web: zopa.com

For the fifth year at the British Bank Awards, Zopa was named Best Personal Loan Provider in 2021. To date, the fintech enterprise has received around £520m worth of equity investment, across 13 funding phases, from Balderton Capital, VentureFounders, and Finch Capital. Peer-to-peer lending (P2P) was once a global platform. Zopa has been operating as an online bank since December 2021. Since then, the London-based fintech firm Zopa ceased its P2P operations after sixteen years to focus on its challenger bank business. 

Zopa’s banking service provides fixed-term savings (FSCS protection included), credit cards, unsecured personal finance loans, and secured automobile finance. Users can see the rate they may get without impacting their credit history. To date, Zopa has raised over £520m in equity investment across 13 funding rounds from Augmentum Fintech, Finch Capital, Balderton Capital, and VentureFounders, among others.

9. Zepz

Established: 2009

Raised: £500m

Rounds: 9

Location: Westminster, London

Web: zepzpay.com

Zepz (formerly known as the WorldRemit Group) has been operating since 2009 and provides a web-based service for individuals wanting to send money overseas. WorldRemit and Sendwave are now Zepz companies. Globally, over 800k individuals depend on their Sendwave product to deliver money. The application allows people to send money online to over 130 countries. Zepz boasts better exchange rates and lower fees than conventional banks and money transfer services. 95% of transfers are ready in minutes.

Zepz processed 50 million customer transactions and transferred over $10 billion for customers in 2020. WorldRemit was one of the shortlisted firms for BusinessCloud’s FinTech 50, an index of the most innovative financial technology companies, in 2021. Accel and Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) are among the firms that have invested £500 million in Zepz across nine funding rounds.

10. Thought Machine

Established: 2015

Raised: £400m

Rounds: 7

Location: Camden

Web: thoughtmachine.net

Thought Machine has raised £400m in equity fundraisings across seven rounds. Playfair Capital, Standard Chartered Ventures, Backed VC, IQ Capital Fund, Molten Ventures, and British Patient Capital are just a few of the company’s investors.

Four ex-Google employees founded this digital security firm for the financial services industry. Its goal is to establish the foundation for a new kind of banking, freeing old-fashioned and traditional companies from outdated legacy technology. Vault is a cloud-based operating system that allows banks to manage their products centrally using APIs. Through Thought Machine’s Engagement Model, the fintech company works with clients looking to establish new banks, offering design assistance, requirements assistance, and partnership programmes.

11. Saltpay

Established: 2019

Raised: £360m

Rounds: 2

Location: City of London

Web: saltpay.co

SaltPay, a newcomer, has garnered £360m in equity funding despite having just two funding rounds. It has also purchased four foreign competitors, Borgun, Pagaqui, and Tutuka, and UK-based payment authorisation firm Paymentology. SaltPay, a SaaS business, creates payment processing and point-of-sale technology mainly for SMEs, tailoring support for its clients. The fintech startup was created to offer affordable, quick, and secure solutions to aid small businesses and entrepreneurs automate their payment processes.

SaltPay provides businesses with issuer payment processing business management software for global fintechs, cloud-native payments, payment providers, banks, and mobile operators. SaltPay, headquartered in London and founded in 2019, has already established 14 offices across 12 countries, with a payment services network across Europe.

12. Blockchain.com the fintech firm

Established: 2011

Raised: £355m

Rounds: 5

Location: Hackney

Web: blockchain.com

Blockchain.com has created a variety of services for exchanging cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin and Ether tokens), searching and verifying transactions, and gaining information on crypto prices, news, and information. Since 2011, Blockchain.com has provided over $1tn in crypto transactions for millions of users. Developers can utilise Blockchain.com’s open-source APIs to construct their Bitcoin applications.

Blockchain.com’s core services include Wallet, a platform for sending, receiving, preserving, and exchanging digital money. The Exchange allows users to purchase, sell, and swap cryptocurrencies and the Explorer publishes public cryptocurrency transactions and data and Institutional Markets, where institutional investors may utilise these services.

13. Clearbank

Established: 2015

Raised: £350m

Rounds: 6

Location: Bristol

Web: clear.bank

ClearBank received its UK banking licence in 2016. It received several national recognitions. Apax Partners, Clearwater International, and PPF Group, among others, provided £350 million in equity funding in six phases and received a £60m innovation grant early in 2019.

ClearBank provides clearing bank services using cloud technology. Its founder, Nick Ogden, refers to it as a ‘bank for banks.’ ClearBank’s customised solutions allow its associates to provide real-time payment and cutting-edge banking services to their clients. Their banking-as-a-service programme comprises operating accounts, client accounts, and segregation accounts, among other things. FSCS Bank Accounts and Virtual Accounts are included, as well as connectivity services integrated with an institution’s core banking system using an API.

14. GoCardless

Established: 2011

Raised: £300m

Rounds: 8

Location: Islington, London

Web: gocardless.com

Over 60,000 companies worldwide use GoCardless to process payments in over 150 billing and subscription software, including Xero and Sage. GoCardless, a fintech firm founded in 2011, which has offices in London, Munich, Paris, San Francisco, Melbourne and New York City, has raised over £300 million in equity funding, across eight rounds, from Accel, Notion Capital, and GV (Google Ventures, among others.

GoCardless has built a system that allows companies to make and receive recurring, one-time, or variable payments within over 30 countries. Users can accept direct debit payments via their websites through the GoCardless payment page or by integrating the customisable GoCardless API into their checkout. 

15. Tandem

Established: 2013

Raised: £300m

Rounds: 15

Location: Camden, London

Web: tandem.co.uk

Tandem has raised over £300m in equity funding across 15 funding rounds, including Pollen Street Capital, e.ventures, Route 66 Ventures, Omidyar Network, and Seedrs crowdfunding platform. They have also acquired four companies—Harrods Bank, Pariti, Allium Money, and Oplo.

Tandem is a digital bank that offers financial services and money management solutions, specialising in green finance. Tandem’s goal is to become a more just, environmentally friendly digital bank for everyone, helping customers reduce their carbon footprint and help the world have a more sustainable future. Tandem connects to over 75 financial institutions in the UK through open banking technology to provide savings and current accounts. Users can connect as many accounts as they wish to the app. Tandem monitors payments, bills, and standing orders throughout the day to advise customers on their spending using this technology.

16. Zilch

Established: 2018

Raised: £290m

Rounds: 7

Location: Westminster

Web: payzilch.com

Zilch has raised £290 million in equity funding in seven funding rounds. Investors include DMG Ventures, Gauss Ventures and Ventura Capital. It acquired NepCapital (Neptune Financial), a debt funding platform based in the United States, in August 2021 to expand into the American market.

Zilch Technology is a BNPL fintech company that provides an app through which users can make zero-interest staggered payments. The fintech allows customers to pay 25% of the cost upfront when they reach the digital checkout. Zilch notifies its customers before payments are due, and they can snooze payments if they need more time. As an incentive, Zilch Rewards and 2% cash back are available to those who pay the entire amount upfront.

17. Allica Bank

Established: 2011

Raised: £250m

Rounds: 10

Location: City of London

Web: allica.bank

Allica Bank has collected £250m in equity funding across ten phases. Warwick Capital Partners and Atalaya Capital Management are among Allica Bank’s investors.

Allica Bank offers branchless banking to businesses and consumers by operating through a digital banking platform and local bankers. Allica Bank rebranded in 2018, emphasising the bank’s repositioning as a digital-first offering previously named CivilisedBank. The challenger bank provides savings accounts, commercial mortgages, asset financing, local business relationship managers, and personal savings accounts for individuals. It was given a banking licence in 2019 and has branches in Milton Keynes and London, with managers spread across England and Wales.

18. Paddle

Established: 2012

Raised: £240m

Rounds: 8

Location: Islington

Web: paddle.com

In 2017, it acquired the Ukrainian app development platform DevMate, and in 2022, ProfitWell, a US-based business intelligence platform. Paddle has developed a revenue delivery platform, particularly in the SaaS industry. Despite the meteoric rise in Software-as-a-Service over the last decade, payment, compliance, and data governance infrastructure have been unable to keep pace. Paddle’s objective is to remove friction as SaaS companies scale by handling daily tasks such as subscriptions and renewals, billing, and currency conversion.

Paddle has been on the Deloitte Fast 50 list for the last five years (among other high-growth lists). Paddle continues to grow rapidly, and £240m in equity funding has been secured across eight funding rounds. BGF, 83North, Notion Capital and Kindred Capital are among the company’s leading investors.

19. PPRO Group

Established: 2006

Raised: £240m

Rounds: 5

Location: City of London

Web: ppro.com

PPRO Group operates across 12 locations in Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Partners include PayPal, Adobe, and Alipay, among others. Citi Ventures and Eurazeo, among other backers, have provided five funding rounds totalling £240 million, in addition to acquiring two firms: allpago and Alpha Fintech.

PPRO Group provides technology for businesses to use various global electronic payment methods. The infrastructure of the fintech company gives merchants the ability to reach more markets and give consumers more financial freedom, making it easier to launch and manage payment methods. PPRO Group provides services that accelerate payments, assist with merchant onboarding, enable more straightforward payments integration, and allow users to consolidate multiple collections and reconcile them into a single format.

The fintech United Kingdom 20 to 50

20. TrueLayer

Established: 2016

Raised: £230m

Rounds: 10

Location: Islington, London

Web: truelayer.com

According to a report from April 2018, TrueLayer is handling 50% of all open banking traffic in the UK, Ireland, and Spain. It has a 22% higher conversion rate than other open banking providers, and twice it has been listed on the FinTech 50 and WealthTech 100 list

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Created on Nov 21st 2022 05:43. Viewed 192 times.

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