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, Morning Wire 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 [...]
Fintech startup Worldremit poaches former Paddy Power chief as its next boss October 22, 2018 London money transfer fintech startup Worldremit has today revealed former Paddy Power Betfair chief Breon Corcoran will be its newest chief executive. Corcoran joins the fintech as it hurtles towards so-called unicorn status – a company worth over $1bn (£764.6m) – after successfully managing the merger of betting firms Paddy Power and Betfair in 2016. Worldremit's current founder and chief [...]
Let’s get kraken: How the Octopus Group is making waves October 22, 2018 For a long time, it seemed like the bosses of finance, energy, and property corporations were laughing – the heartless belly laughs of those raking in stacks of money at the expense of their customers. Now there’s a growing trend for companies that care about the people they serve, a feeling that this should be their [...]
BBVA and Anthemis launch London venture builder for fintech startups October 18, 2018 Spanish banking group BBVA and fintech-focused venture capital firm Anthemis have teamed up to launch a joint venture builder for London fintech startups, beginning with the development of a startup studio. The partnership hopes to find top London startups that can create the next big technologically-innovative products in financial services, deploying capital and resources to [...]