UK fintechs have raised a record-breaking $5.7 billion in the first half of this year.

A report by trade body Innovate Finance says that the UK fintech sector raised more in just the first six months of 2021 than the whole of 2020. Enthusiastic investors pumped $5.7 billion into the sector in H1, 34% higher than the total amount of $4.3 billion received in all of 2020, and more than pre-pandemic levels. (Innovate Finance)

The 2021 collection, so far, is already ahead even of the record year set in 2019 ($4.6bn) by 26%.

The UK, the fintech hub of Europe

A record 13 mega-deals, i.e. those sized $100 million or more, were struck in H1 2021, versus just seven in the entire 2020.

“Fintech is one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy and has a vital role to play in the UK’s economic and business recovery,” said Janine Hirt, chief executive of Innovate Finance. “To have secured record funding – in just six months – speaks to an enduring confidence in UK innovation, as well as our ability to build and scale world-class businesses.”

The numbers cement the UK’s pre-eminent position as Europe’s fintech capital and are creditable given they followed in the wake of 2020, the challenging year of the pandemic.

Big-ticket deals

The report highlighted the top deals of H1 2021 as follows.

The report from Innovate Finance said UK fintech is now second only to the US (940 deals and $26.7bn) in terms of funds raised, and well ahead of the levels secured by Brazil (40 deals and $3bn), Germany (56 deals and $2.5bn) and India (132 deals and $2.2bn) during the same period.

“This analysis clearly demonstrates that the appetite among international investors to fund high-growth, innovative firms has never been greater, and is a testament to the UK’s position as a world leader in FinTech,” Hirt said.

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