Klarna rival Laybuy partners with Footasylum in UK launch March 10, 2019 Klarna rival Laybuy, which offers a “buy now, pay later” service, has launched in the UK today in a partnership with shoe shop Footasylum. Online Footasylum customers will be given the option to pay using Laybuy from today, and it will be rolled out in the brand’s 70 high street stores later this year. Read [...]
Draper Esprit leads £7m funding round in deep tech firm Hadean March 7, 2019 Venture capital firm Draper Esprit has led a £7m funding round in London deep tech firm Hadean. Hadean has created the world’s first cloud-first operating system to allow programmers to scale up their code and reduce the manpower and time wasted on engineering. Read more: London-listed Draper Esprit to double down on Europe with £100m [...]
Funding Circle shares rise despite widening losses on IPO costs March 7, 2019 Shares in peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle jumped as much as five per cent this morning despite widening losses following the fintech firm’s initial public offering (IPO) last year. The figures Funding Circle fell to a £51.6m operating loss in 2018, 40 per cent up from a loss of £36.9m the previous year. Read more: Funding [...]
The big banks are losing their grip on the market to fintechs and challengers, but can big data save the day? March 7, 2019 Over a year on from the launch of Open Banking, and following last year’s IT catastrophes at Visa and TSB, it is no surprise that many in our industry are considering how effectively the big banks are reacting to this era of transformative technological upheaval. It is estimated that the five biggest UK banks hold [...]
UK and Turkey launch joint initiative to develop Islamic fintech March 7, 2019 The UK and Turkey have launched a new joint initiative to develop digital financial technology in the Islamic world. Firms hope to open financial services to the “unbanked population” through cooperation in the Islamic fintech market. Read more: Five fintech trends to watch in 2019 A report by the UK-Turkey Islamic Finance working group, which [...]
British identity startup Onfido quietly closes £4m funding from Augmentum Fintech March 6, 2019 Digital identity startup Onfido has quietly closed a £4m investment from Augmentum Fintech, Morning Wire has learned. Documents published by the London-listed fund yesterday revealed the tie-up, which appears to be a one-off injection made last month ahead of an upcoming funding round for the company. Onfido, which makes technology used to verify customer identities [...]
Five fintech trends to watch in 2019 March 6, 2019 | City Talk There’s no shortage of stories on how tech breakthroughs will transform financial services, from changing the way we interact with our personal finances to threatening entire banking institutions with disruption. It can be difficult to predict exactly what this landscape will look like in the next few years, but most seem to agree that the [...]
Automakers and the tech giants are battling over the future of the car industry March 5, 2019 More than 100 years after the petrol-powered car passed go for the first time – and despite worldwide sales at a record high in 2018 – stress fractures are starting to appear. Tesla is on track to outsell both BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the US, car sales in China are declining for the first time in [...]
Revolut boss concedes to claims of ‘toxic culture’ at the startup March 5, 2019 The chief executive of London fintech startup Revolut said his firm “hasn’t always gotten things right” in an open letter late last night, after fresh allegations of a toxic culture at the company emerged last week. Former Revolut employees at both senior and junior levels described an environment of unpaid work, unachievable targets and high-staff [...]
London can strengthen its relations with Scotland March 4, 2019 On a brisk evening in January, I had the honour of hosting a Burns Supper at the Mansion House with the first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon. The night was complete with bagpipes, haggis, and of course a “wee dram” of whisky. The event brought together leading business figures from both sides of the border, [...]