Globally recognised as a hot investment sector, FinTech is one of the fastest-growing areas for venture capitalists. In a recent development, N26, a leading mobile banking startup raised another $170 million (€150 million), an extension of its Series D funding round to $470 million and now the company’s valuation has reached $3.5 billion, giving it the top position in the list of the most valued German startups.
The funding was led by Insight Venture Partners, GIC (Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund), Tencent, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, and Greyhound Capital. To date, the Berlin-based mobile banking platform has raised more than $670 million. The company will use the additional funds to drive expansion in Europe, the US, and Brazil. Founded by Maximilian Tayenthal and Valentin Stalf, the company will also invest in innovative new features.
Within the last 12 months, N26 has also tripled its workforce to more than 1,300 employees and will continue hiring for its locations in Berlin, New York, Barcelona, Vienna, and São Paulo.
While N26 has also become one of the most valued fintech companies in Europe now, we take a look at the 9 other potential fintech startups which are ruling the sector in 2019.
Revolut (London)
Firm Valuation: $1.7B
Funding: €309M
Founders: Nikolay Storonsky, Vlad Yatsenko
Revolut, a digital banking alternative that includes a prepaid debit card, currency exchange, and peer-to-peer payments is on a mission to build an open and frictionless platform to use and manage money around the world.
Monzo (London)
Firm valuation: £2B
Funding: €390M
Founders: Gary Dolman, Jason Bates, Jonas Huckestein, Paul Rippon, Tom Blomfield
Monzo is a digital bank for people who live their lives on their smartphones and targets people who want to get things done quickly. The company now has more than one million customers using our debit cards to manage their money and spend around the world.
Wirecard (Munich)
Firm valuation: €14B
Wirecard is one of the world’s fastest-growing digital platforms in the area of financial commerce. It offers end-to-end services covering all aspects of payments, with a particular emphasis on digital transactions. It also provides card issuing, risk management, data analytics, and related services.
Adyen (Amsterdam)
Firm valuation: €7.1B
Founder: Pieter van der Does
Funding: €293M
The poster boy of the Netherlands, Adyen is a multichannel payment company outsourcing payment services to international merchants. It is the only provider of a modern end-to-end infrastructure connecting merchants directly to Visa, MasterCard, and 250 other payment methods globally. It has offices across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Transferwise (London)
Firm valuation: $3.5B
Funding: €360M
Founders: Kristo Kaarmann, Taavet Hinrikus
Travellers favourite, TransferWise is a money transfer service allowing private individuals and businesses to send money abroad without hidden charges. It lets expats, international students, and businesses move money globally. Notably, it is licensed and regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority.
Oaknorth (London)
Firm valuation: $2.4B
Funding: €783M
Founders: Joel Perlman, Rishi Khosla
In 2013, OakNorth was founded to help businesses in the UK grow by letting entrepreneurs reach their full potential by giving them customised debt finance solutions. The company offers competitive savings and personal accounts, business loans, and property finance to entrepreneurs. OakNorth focuses on small and medium-sized businesses and helps them grow.
Klarna (Stockholm)
Firm valuation: $3.5B
Funding: €373M
Founders: Niklas Adalberth, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Victor Jacobsson
Swedish unicorn Klarna provides e-commerce payment solutions for merchants and shoppers. This platform offers direct payments, pay after delivery options, and instalment plans in a smooth one-click purchase experience.
Funding Circle (London)
Firm valuation: £1.5B
Funding: €339M
Founders: Alex Tonelli, Andrew Mullinger, James Meekings, Sam Hodges, Samir Desai
Funding Circle is the world’s leading lending platform for small businesses. This platform match investors with money to lend with companies looking to fund their next step. By giving directly to businesses through Funding Circle, investors can earn attractive returns to better provide for their future.
iZettle (Stockholm)
Firm valuation: €2.2B
Funding: €204M
Founders: Jacob De Geer, Magnus Nilsson
Acquired by Paypal now, iZettle is a mobile payments company that offers small businesses with portable point-of-sale solutions and free sales overview tools. Back in 2010, this company revolutionised mobile payments with the world’s first mini chip card reader and software for mobile devices.
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
