Fintech Friday is our regular check-in here at Spreckley, where we share all the most interesting and useful financial services and financial technology news, innovations and trends.
This week we look at how UK fintech Railsbank is set to hit unicorn valuation with a new funding round. We discover how a fintech has quietly been taking on $11bn+ payment rivals — and is finally out of stealth. And we look at latest reports outlining how fintech outperformed the market in 2021, and it’s set to do even better.
UK fintech Railsbank to hit unicorn valuation with new funding round
British fintech Railsbank, which swooped on some of the assets of the collapsed German company Wirecard, is closing in on “unicorn” status with a new round of funding, reports Sky News this week.
Railsbank, which provides digital banking services to financial services and other consumer-facing companies, is working with bankers on plans to raise roughly $100m in new funding.
FT Partners, the prolific fintech-focused investment bank, has been mandated to work on the round, according to investors.
This fintech has quietly been taking on $11bn+ payment rivals — and is finally out of stealth
Payments giants like Stripe and Adyen power online shopping, but they’re yet to fix the faff of typing in your card or shipping details over and over again.
That’s left a vacuum for “one-click checkout” solutions like Simpler, a one-year-old fintech that’s now coming out of stealth, reports Sifted.eu.
With just €1m in pre-seed funding, the company says it’s already coded a Europe-friendly product to help online shoppers pay for their baskets quickly.
Fintech outperformed the market in 2021, and it’s set to do even better
TechCrunch reports this week how: “Last year was outstanding for fintech IPOs, with notable debuts occurring across several categories. Consumer companies such as Coinbase ($86 billion) and Robinhood ($32 billion), infrastructure players such as dLocal ($6 billion) and Marqeta ($15 billion), and insurtech providers such as Lemonade ($1.6 billion) all entered the public market.”
“We were bullish on fintech when we launched the Matrix Fintech Index in 2017, but even we underestimated the magnitude of the growth to come,” reads the report.
“Fintech tailwinds, strengthened by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, only accelerated in 2021. And despite public markets’ rocky start in early January, we’re confident that 2022 will be another banner year for the sector.”