UK fintech sector has recorded investment of $4.9 billion last year surpassing the $3.6 billion from 2018, according to data from Innovate Finance. It shows that investors are coming for UK’s top fintech startups, making it the second-largest market in the world after the US. Its competency in finance and strict regulatory measures for open banking and adaption of digital innovation had investors betting big on this UK’s sector transformation. Here is the list of fintech startups that have received investments to pursue their innovations.
Hastee
Hastee was founded by James Herbert in 2017 which allows employees flexible access of up to 50% of their earned pay on demand via its app then the company gets paid on each payday. Each month, employees can withdraw up to £100 and further withdrawals are subjects to 2.5% fee. Hastee has raised a whooping £208 million funding round in December 2019 led by Umbra Capital and supported by IDC Ventures.
Thought Machine
Thought Machine spent two years developing its cloud-native core banking platform called Vault which aims to ditch expensive data centers and its underlying operating costs. Vault is a result of growing demand for cloud-based services which is evident from the fact that professionals are rushing in to take up the Cloud Computing training to upskill themselves. It runs on AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and IBM Cloud, but not Microsoft Azure. Lloyds Banking Group has invested £11 million in the company in 2018 in exchange for a 10 percent stake, not to mention high-profile companies such as IBM and Atom Bank inked partnership as well. It has raised £63.8m in series B funding last month led by Draper Esprit with contributions from existing investors IQ Capital, Backed, and Playfair Capital.
CurrencyCloud
Currencycloud was founded back in 2012 which offers embedded cross-border payments. It has built an enterprise-grade API that allows partners like Visa, Standard bank and Starling Bank to easily offer their customers cross-border payments. Currencyloud raised a £62 million Series E funding round in January 2020.
OpenFin
OpenFin labeled itself as the operating system for finance. Basically, it’s the modern front-end application that runs on top of its legacy systems. It’s offering cloud services to provide firms with private app stores for its clients and employees. OpenFin had already been managed 1,000 apps across 200,000 desktops around the world. The firm has raised more than £31.5 million in investment from Wells Fargo, Bain Capital Ventures, JP Morgan and Pivot Investment Partners.
Wagestream
Wagestream is a London-based fintech that lets you get an advance pre-agreed proportion of your monthly salary for a flat fee of £1 via its online platform. Employers charges 50p per employee per month that enjoys this flexible option. Wagestream raised a £40 million debt/equity Series A funding round in May 2019 led by Balderton Capital and Northzone, with the £25 million loans coming from savings bank Shawbrook.
