The new fund has been provisionally named the Fintech Growth Fund.

A host of luminaries have been roped in to lend their weight to a new £1 billion fund that is envisioned to boost the growth of the UK’s promising fintechs. According to SkyNews, Lord Hammond (pictured above) will join the advisory board of the new fund, the Fintech Growth Fund.

Sources told SkyNews that the Fund would raise its finances from institutional investors and not be dependent on the government for funding. These investors include Barclays (LON: BARC), London Stock Exchange Group (LON: LSEG) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) – all of whom have been requested to invest seed capital into the Fintech Growth Fund.

The catalyst for the new fund

A report that surveyed the UK fintech landscape and authored by ex-WorldPay boss Sir Ron Kalifa revealed that UK fintechs faced difficulties mobilizing funding after their Series B rounds to scale up their operations.

“With a £2bn fintech growth capital funding gap in the UK, many entrepreneurs prefer to sell rather than continue to build their promising company,” Kalifa’s report said.

The Fund is an attempt to fix that funding gap. Apart from Lord Hammond, other prominent personalities to play a role in steering the Fund include Al Lukies, an entrepreneur with a decades-long experience as the government’s public face on all things fintech.

Another name is that of Phil Vidler, a former Treasury official who currently helms the FinTech Alliance. Lord Hammond himself has associated with a number of fintech or crypto businesses after stepping down as chancellor in 2019.

Kalifa’s report suggested a £1bn fund could “act as the catalyst in developing a world-leading ecosystem.”

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