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Mastercard, Barclays and Peel Hunt Back New UK FinTech Fund of £1bn
Mastercard, Barclays and Peel Hunt Back New UK FinTech Fund of £1bn
FinTech Growth Fund’s inaugural investment expected before year-end
23 August 2023
In February 2021, the Kalifa Review of the UK fintech sector highlighted a number of opportunities to support the growth and adoption of UK FinTech including:
- Creating highly skilled jobs across the UK
- Boosting trade
- Extending the UK’s competitive edge over other leading fintech hubs.
- The Review set out a series of proposals for how the UK could build on its existing strengths, create the right framework for continued innovation, and support UK firms to scale.
A growth fund was one of the Review’s recommendations, to provide additional support to fintechs struggling to find domestic capital.
Introducing The Fintech Growth Fund
The U.K. has created an investment vehicle to back growth-stage FinTech companies until they can go public, in an attempt to maintain Britain’s global image as a FinTech investment hub.
Backed by Mastercard, Barclays, the London Stock Exchange Group and others, the Fintech Growth Fund aims to invest between £10 million to £100 million into FinTech companies, ranging from consumer-focused challenger banks and payments tech groups to financial infrastructure and regulatory tech.
The fund, which is being advised by U.K. investment bank Peel Hunt, looks to support companies at the growth stage of their funding cycle, as they seek Series C rounds and above.
Peel Hunt is a leading UK investment bank that puts long-term success above short-term gain, helping good companies succeed and deliver outstanding results. Their integrated approach combines expert research and distribution, a range of investment banking services, and an execution services hub that provides liquidity to the UK capital markets.
The London Stock Exchange has committed to a number of reforms to encourage FinTech firms to float in the U.K. rather than in the U.S.A, a particularly pressing step, following British chip design firm, arm’s decision to ditch a London listing for New York. The fund also counts Philip Hammond, the former U.K. finance minister, as an advisor.
The first deployment of capital into businesses is scheduled for Q3/4 2023 with a strong pipeline of opportunities already identified. The fund will look to undertake, on average, four to eight investments per year, with investments between £10 million and £100 million. The fund will make minority investments and all investments will be for equity and equity-linked securities.
The UK FinTech Growth Partners executive team combines decades of experience in venture capital, FinTech and government. The partners of the fund include:
Former Global Head of Corporate Development & Strategic Investments at Nomura, having previously held similar roles at BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley;
Former Managing Director – Head of Banks, Digital Channels and UK Inorganic at BlackRock;
Former Executive Director and UK Head of Payments, Partnerships & Industry Relations at Square; Former Managing Director and Global Head of FinTech Partnerships & Strategic Innovation Investments Director at HSBC, and;
CEO of FinTech Alliance, formerly Group Strategy Director at Pollinate and Head of Global Markets for HM Treasury.
To find out more about the fund, please visit the FinTech Growth Fund website or send them an enquiry at info@fintechgrowthfund.co.uk
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