London Stock Exchange Group leads $20m Nivaura funding round February 27, 2019 Fintech firm Nivaura has closed a $20m (£15m) seed capital round led by London Stock Exchange Group. The London-based company, which provides blockchain technology for digital investment banking platforms, will use the funding to rapidly expand its leadership, business development and technical teams. Read more: Revolut pushes ministers for fast-track tech visas The company also plans to [...]
Fintech startup Revolut pushes ministers for fast-track tech visas February 21, 2019 London will fall behind as a world-leading fintech hub if the government does not prioritise incoming tech talent, the chief executive of Revolut warned today. Nikolay Storonsky, a Russian native who started digital bank Revolut in 2015, called on ministers to introduce a fast-tracked visa process for technology workers, particularly within software development and data [...]
UK AI sector funding hits record £1bn for 2018, almost the same as the rest of Europe combined February 20, 2019 Investment into the UK’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector from venture capital firms reached a record $1.3bn (£998m) last year, almost as much as the rest of Europe combined. The new figures from Dealroom represent a fourfold increase in five years, up from a total of $200m in 2014. In comparison, French AI startups raised $400m last [...]
Accountancy funding platform Capitalise secures £3.5m Series A investment backed by QED Investors and Hambro Perks February 20, 2019 Accountancy funding platform Capitalise has closed a £3.5m Series A investment round led by US venture capital firm QED Investors and supported by existing investor Hambro Perks. Capitalise, which works with 105 institutional partners, will use the funding to expand the company’s cloud product for advisers to “navigate the ever growing market of financial products [...]
German prosecutors probe Financial Times journalist over Wirecard reporting February 18, 2019 Prosecutors in Munch have launched an investigation into a Financial Times (FT) journalist whose reporting of alleged fraud at Wirecard sparked a frenzy of short selling of the firm’s shares. The FT published a series of stories revealing alleged fraud at Wirecard’s Singapore office and an investigation by local police, causing shares in the fintech company to [...]
Softbank plugs $200m into European-focused Abu Dhabi tech fund February 18, 2019 Japanese investment giant Softbank is said to have stumped up half of the cash for Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala's new $400m (£309.5m) fund for European tech startups. Mubadala, which has conversely contributed around $15bn to Softbank's $100bn Vision Fund, said last week that its venture arm would be launching the $400m tech fund this year. The move will involve a number of Mubadala's [...]
Berlin banking tech startup behind N26 and Oaknorth nabs €30m from Skype-backer Bessemer February 18, 2019 Software-as-a-service startup Mambu, which provides banking rails to the likes of N26 and Oaknorth, has raised €30m (£26.3m) from the world's oldest venture capital firm. Bessemer Venture Partners, which has backed the likes of Skype, Linkedin and Pinterest, led the round with participation also coming from Acton Capital, the venture arm of Commerzbank, Point Nine Capital [...]
Google and Salesforce inject $75m into London’s Gocardless February 18, 2019 City fintech firm Gocardless has raised $75m (£58.1m) in a series E funding round, led by new investors Adam Street Partners and the venture capital arms of Google and Salesforce. The company aims to fix the way businesses collect invoices and make recurring payments by building debit technology on top of the world’s existing banking systems. Chief [...]
Business lender Iwoca rakes in £150m financing from Augmentum Fintech and NIBC February 18, 2019 Small business lending challenger Iwoca has closed a total fundraise of £150m, led by an earlier £7.5m investment from London-listed fund Augmentum Fintech. CityAM understands the raise was made up of a £20m series D equity funding round and £130m in debt capital. Existing investor Prime Ventures also participated, alongside NIBC Bank. A person [...]
Mark Kleinman: Aviva’s missed deadline ensures brickbats February 15, 2019 Viva Aviva? For such a stalwart of blue-chip boardrooms, Sir Adrian Montague suddenly can’t put a foot right. Four years after taking over the chairmanship of Aviva when John McFarlane scuttled off to Barclays, he’s ended up in a rather large pickle of his own making. Sacking Mark Wilson as the insurer’s chief executive last [...]