In many ways, 2021 has been the year of the fintech. For one thing, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a number of trends that play into the fintechs’ hands, from the rise and rise of e-commerce to the move away from physical interaction – in Britain, for example, 70% of consumers say they use less cash today than in the past. For another, investors have never been more enthusiastic about fintech businesses’ prospects: data from CB Insights reveals that globally, fintechs picked up a record $94.7bn of new funding during the first nine months of the year, almost twice as much as in the whole of 2020.
Against this backdrop, the value of the global fintech market is expected to triple over the next decade – and the best fintechs are in a strong position to capitalise. Here are just five British fintechs expected to do big things in 2022:
Form3
Founded in 2016, Form3 is a platform that powers the future of payments. Form3 provides banks and fintechs across the globe with an end-to-end payments service that delivers complete payment processing, clearing and settlement to the universe of payment schemes through a single API. The company has grown rapidly since 2016 and employs more than 280 staff in 23 countries. In September 2021 it raised a Series C round investment of £116m led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. With a strong position in the UK and Europe, Form3 is preparing for wider international expansion, primarily focusing on the US.
PrimaryBid
Since its launch in 2016, PrimaryBid has helped retail investors to take part in IPOs and public company fund raisings at the same time and price as institutional investors. With the pandemic prompting more people to take an interest in investment, the company’s platform has now worked with more than 200 public companies choosing to include personal investors in their IPOs – examples include Deliveroo and Ocado. The company itself raised £38.4m in its Series B round in October 2020, becoming fully regulated in the European Union and launching alongside Euronext in France in June 2021.
The City of London has helped the UK build one of the most influential fintech hubs in the world
Starling Bank
Founded by former Allied Irish Banks COO Anne Boden in January 2014, Starling Bank is a digital challenger bank with a focus on current and business accounts. Starling received a UK banking license in 2016 and now has more than 2.5 million customers. Earlier this year the bank acquired a specialist buy-to-let lender Fleet Mortgages for £50m, bringing it £1.75bn of mortgages under management. 2021 saw the bank raise £272m of new funding, giving it a £1.3bn valuation, and Starling counts the likes of Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund as investors. Starling expects to go public by 2024.
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Tide
Tide is a mobile-first bank for small and medium businesses founded in 2015. Tide’s accounts are aimed at freelancers, small and scaling businesses, with the promise it will save customers’ time and money by providing instant access to various financial services such as automated bookkeeping. In Spring 2021 the company reported it had doubled its user base to 400,000 accounts, and that it planned to invest over £100m. The company subsequently raised £47m in its Series C funding round.
Cuvva
Launched in 2016 by Freddy Macnamara, Cuvva is an app-based car insurance provider that offers pay-as-you-go driving cover. The company is offering drivers a new type of policy that uses mobile phones sensors and machine learning to understand a motorist’s behaviour. As a result, it claims that drivers could save up to a third on their monthly subscription policy. The company has a mobile-first approach with claims reporting and handling through its app. The company raised £15m in its Series A funding in 2019 and became the most downloaded insurance app in the UK in 2020.
