According to Deloitte’s 2017 Global FinTech Hub Review, London is the global leading fintech hub. Not only is London powered by a strong pool of talent and supportive government policies; London is also attracting an enormous amount of venture capital funding. In 2017, UK financial technology firms raised $1.8 billion VC funding, and London accounted for over 90 per cent of all money raised by UK fintech firms.
Some of the recent mega-rounds include:
- Transferwise, $280M (November 2017)
- Revolut, $250M (April 2018)
- Monzo, $108M (October 2018)
- Funding Circle, $100M (January 2017)
Who are the investors behind the blooming amount of funding in the London fintech scene? Here are some of the most active fintech venture capital firms in London:
Anthemis Group
Anthemis Group is a London-based VC firm focused on fintech companies across the world. Currently, they have 70 fintech startups in their profile across different sectors such as retail banking, corporate banking, payments, assets management, capital market and insurance.
Recent investment rounds participated (London-based fintech startups):
- Tide, $10M Convertible Note (August 2018),
- TrueLayer, $7.5M Series A (July 2018)
- Flux System, $7.5M Series A (December 2018)
They also have a UK-based challenger bank unicorn, Atom Bank, in their profile.
Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a leading tech-focused VC firm based in both London and San Francisco, with fintech as one of their their major focus.
Recent investment rounds participated (London-based fintech startups):
- Revolut, $250M Series C (April 2018)
- Credit Benchmark, $7M Series C (October 2018)
- Argent Labs, $7M Seed Funding (November 2018)
They have also participated in the $100M mega-round raised by Funding Circle in 2017.
Balderton Capital
Balderton Capital is Europe’s leading early-stage venture capital investor, focused on European founded technology companies at Series A.
Recent investment rounds participated (London-based fintech startups):
- Crowdcube. $10.9M Venture Round (November 2018)
- GoCardless, $22.5M Series D (September 2017)
- Luno, $9M Series B (September 2017)
Notably, they have led Revolut’s Series A round in 2016 and participated in their Series B round in 2017.
Accel Partners
Accel is a Silicon Valley-based VC firm with a London office managing their exclusive Europe investment funds.
Recent investment rounds participated (London-based fintech startups):
- Wonga, $12.8M Venture Round (August 2018)
- WorldRemit, $40M Series C (December 2017)
- GoCardless, $22.5M Series D (September 2017)
Accel was the lead investor of Monzo’s recent $108m mega deal and Funding Circle’s $100m Series F round.
Passion Capital
Passion Capital is an early stage venture capital firm based in London.
Recent investment rounds participated (London-based fintech startups):
- Ravelin, $10.25M Series B (September 2018)
- Tide, $10M Convertible Note (August 2018)
- Marshmallow, $1.2M Seed Round (June 2018)
They have also participated in Monzo’s recent $108M Series E round.
Immerse in the Fintech Community in London
London is an exciting place for fintech. If you are in London and want to learn more about fintech, the best want to go is to join the local meetups to engage with the fintech experts. The Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE) is an exclusive professional network at the intersection of finance and technology, organising regular events and meetups in London to foster a fintech community in London.
Even if you are not in London, CFTE is building an active online community, organising regular webinars with different fintech leaders.
CFTE also provide online executive education programmes to upskill professionals in the area of fintech.
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