Yahoo Finance Strong start to the year for UK fintech as startups raise $2.9bn
The UK fintech sector has started 2021 with a bang after raising a record total of $2.9bn (£2.1bn) in the first quarter of the year.
According to new figures from Innovate Finance, the industry body representing UK fintech, a total of 117 deals were struck across the industry, with investment levels up 153% compared the previous quarter.
This amount was 331% higher when compared to the same period last year, when the UK economy was in its first full month of lockdown, highlighting a renewed confidence and increased appetite from investors.
The investment this year so far, which includes six mega deals worth more than $100m each, represents 69% of total investment in 2020. This almost matched the total of seven reached last year.
The investments this year include Checkout.com ($450m), Starling Bank ($376m), Blockchain.com ($120m initially and then $300m), Rapyd ($300m), and PPRO Financial ($180m initially and then $90m).
Recently, there has also been an increasing number of UK fintech companies announcing their intentions to float on the stock market.
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“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 first quarter investment figures for our fintech sector look very encouraging,” Charlotte Crosswell, CEO of Innovate Finance, said.
“It’s clear that the appetite to fund high-growth, ambitious businesses is back, and investors are ready to put capital behind UK fintechs that are now so vital to our economic and business recovery.”
She added: “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.”
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