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UK investment in FinTech up 35% to $901 million

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UK investment for FinTech firms increased by 35% to $901million across 72 deals in 2015, according to Innovate Finance, the not-for-profit membership association for global FinTech.


In the UK, the FinTech industry is booming.

In the UK, the FinTech industry is booming.

The rise in UK investment was led by large funding rounds from Funding Circle, Transferwise, WorldRemit, eToro, RateSetter, Azimo, The Currency Cloud, MoneyFarm and Seedrs.

In 2015 global VC investment in the UK kept pace with 2014, with lower deal volume indicating a trend of larger deal sizes globally. There were 860 deals globally, attracting $12.5 billion in investment.

The UK attracted the highest volume of deals outside the US and third in terms of total investment behind US and China. Of the Top 20 global deals, two were from the UK – Atom Bank, which secured $125 million and Funding Circle, which raised $150 million.

The highest proportion of deals was in the $1-$5 million category globally. Funding Circle, Atom Bank, Ebury Partners, Transferwise and World Remit round up the Top 5 FinTech deals – all more than $50 million.

More than 60% of the UK VC investment in FinTech was in the peer-to-peer, alternative finance and payment and remittance segments, with challenger banks pushing investment volume to over 74%. The balance of investment was spread across Wealth Management (Robo-Advice), Capital Markets, Data Analytics, crowdfunding, and a number of emerging categories.

““One of the big trends in 2015 was investment in FinTech by financial institutions in incubators, accelerators, labs, talent, partnerships, digital M&A, and corporate venture funds. A couple of years ago, entrepreneurs in the community were looking for introductions to VCs. Last year, they were interested in introductions to institutions”, said Lawrence Wintermeyer, CEO of Innovate Finance.

London’s history and tradition as the home of global banking is doubtlessly responsible for this influx of capital, but with other global cities innovating in peer-2-peer, this investment will need to continue if London is to stay ahead of that oft-mentioned curve.

UK tech firms smash venture capital funding record

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The UK’s technology sector raised more than $3.6 billion in 2015, according to figures from by London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s ‘promotional’ company.

The investment represents an increase of more than 70% on the record amount raised in 2014 ($2.1 billion). London-based tech companies raised a record $2.28 billion during the period, representing a 69% increase on the $1.3 billion raised in 2014.

Analysis of VC investment by London & Partners shows that since 2010 UK tech companies have collectively raised almost $10 billion with London-based companies accounting for more than half of the total ($5.2 billion).

Mayor of London Boris Johnson MP said: “With a flourishing tech scene and one of the world’s leading financial centres, it is no surprise to see that London’s tech companies are attracting record levels of investment. Our world-class talent pool and our culture of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit are helping the sector to grow from strength to strength.

London’s booming FinTech sector has also continued to secure record funding during 2015. The sector accounted for almost a quarter of all investment raised by London-based tech companies. Some of the largest FinTech deals this year include: Zopa ($106m), TransferWise ($58m) and WorldRemit ($100m).

In April 2015, London-based peer-to-peer lending company, Funding Circle secured the largest single deal of the year with a $150m funding round led by DST Global. Last year was also a strong one for the UK’s ecommerce sector, with a number of companies featuring in the top ten deals including: FarFetch ($86m), MADE.com ($60m) and Secret Escapes ($60m).

Investment into London’s technology sector has been boosted by a growing number of venture capital houses choosing to setup funds and operations in London. In October 2015 Octopus Ventures announced a $140m London based fund, joining the likes of Passion Capital, Index Ventures and Hoxton Ventures who already have a presence in London and have chosen the capital as a strategic base to invest in European technology start-ups.