Great Britain is an ideal place for fintech startups

Last year, more than $ 1 billion was invested in the Fintech segment (FinTech), and the United Kingdom ranked second in the number of fintech transactions financed. According to Innovate Finance, the first place belonged to the United States, and in terms of investment in this market, the United Kingdom ranked third, with the United States and China in the first place.

In total, investments in this segment amounted to $ 12.5 billion, while the UK accounted for $ 901 million investment with 860 transactions. The local market survey was conducted by the Pitchbook venture investment tracking service in cooperation with Innovate Finance.

Analysts from Ernst & Young, on the contrary, put the UK in first place among the seven leading cities for fintech startups. In this ranking, the UK surpassed Silicon Valley and Hong Kong in terms of the policy of local regulators, the presence of talented employees, and access to investment funds.
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“In 2014, I talked about the desire to make Britain the capital for startups from fintech. Ernst & Young research confirms this - we have the most favorable ecosystem for development in FINTECH.

But we are not going to rest on our laurels and must do more to maintain this position, ”said Chancellor George Osborne.

Among the most significant investments in fintech in the UK:

• $ 150 million in the Funding Circle credit system;
• $ 100 million in WorldRemit mobile payment service;
• $ 58 million in the system of online payments TransferWise;
• $ 83 million in the Ebury Small Business Financing System.

In 2015, the trend of investment in projects by incubators, accelerators, corporate and venture funds was observed on the FINTECH market. A few years ago, projects were only looking for venture funds. Despite the general trend towards investments in fintech start-ups - in 2016, there may be a lull in this market due to negative investor sentiment. The main reasons for this were the dismissal of top employees from such famous projects as Twitter and Snapchat, as well as several others.

“You can look back and say that at that time it was relevant. But we do not see the same tendencies to further growth as a few blocks back, ”said Index Hammer, partner of Index Ventures, shared his opinion.

Taking this into account, projects in FINTECH in the coming year will have to face some problems when looking for investments, but in the future the trend for this sector may remain positive.