UK fintech investment off to flying start after series of mega deals
After a gruelling year the UK’s fintech industry is back with a bang, attracting nearly $3bn across more than 100 deals in the first quarter alone.
The fintech sector raised a total of $2.9bn in the first three months of the year across 117 deals, with investment levels 153 per cent higher compared to the previous quarter.
It’s indicative of the growing momentum within the industry spurred on by renewed confidence and increased appetite from investors following a turbulent year.
Figures from industry body Innovate Finance, shared with Morning Wire, reveal investment in the opening quarter was up 331 per cent on the same period last year when the UK first entered lockdown.
Investment to date represents 69 per cent of the total amount invested in the whole of 2020 as investors start to become less risk-averse as restrictions ease.
“Following a tough and turbulent year in 2020, it’s brilliant to see the speed and vigour with which investor confidence has returned and the Q1 investment figures for our FinTech sector look very encouraging,” Charlotte Crosswell, chief executive of Innovate Finance said.
There have already been six mega deals, worth more than $100m, including Checkout.com which closed a $450m Series D round raising its valuation to $15bn.
Challenger bank Starling Bank saw its valuation soar to $1.9bn after a $376m Series D funding round.
The period has also been marked by an increasing number of UK fintechs announcing IPOS indicating the maturity of the sector.
“FinTech is the fastest growing sector of our economy, and these latest figures show that despite barriers along the way, capital will always follow great ideas – and the UK is full of them. We should be proud of the sector’s performance, and take the Q1 trends as a very positive signal for the rest of the year,” Crosswell said.