The FinTech Growth Fund is a new fund targeted to fill growth capital gap and ensure continuation of the UK’s pre-eminence in FinTech. This is the first investment fund of its kind focussed on supporting growth stage FinTechs as they scale.
Peel Hunt is acting as the sole Financial Advisor, directly advising on fundraising and future investment pipeline.
The FinTech Growth Fund will invest in UK FinTechs, predominantly from Series B to pre-IPO, to enable them to scale domestically into world-class global organisations. The first deployment of capital into businesses is scheduled for Q4 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.
Alongside the investment capital, the FinTech Growth Fund will provide strategic support to its portfolio companies to help them achieve their corporate ambitions, giving them access to an ecosystem of deep, relevant experience across FinTech, venture capital, and the wider financial services ecosystem.
The UK FinTech Growth Partners executive team combines decades of experience in venture capital, FinTech and government. The partners of the fund include:
- Angel Issa – former Global Head of Corporate Development & Strategic Investments at Nomura, having previously held similar roles at BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley
- Joe Parkin – former Managing Director - Head of Banks, Digital Channels and UK Inorganic at BlackRock
- Kaushalya Somasundaram – 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
- Phil Vidler – CEO of FinTech Alliance
To support the growth of the fund, UK FinTech Growth Partners has assembled a world leading non-executive advisory board which brings with it a wealth of sector expertise. The advisory board will be chaired by former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Philip Hammond, and will also feature notable UK financial services and FinTech figures, including:
- Clare Bousfield – MD Retail and Savings for M&G plc
- Sir Charles Bowman – Former Senior Partner of PwC and former Lord Mayor of London;
- Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia – Chair of Moneyfarm, Founder of Snoop and Ex CEO of Virgin Money.
- Lord Gerry Grimstone – former Minister for Investment jointly at the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, former Chair of Barclays Bank and former Chair of Standard Life
- Alastair Lukies CBE – Founder of Pollinate International and Founding Partner of Motive Partners
- Dame Helena Morrissey – Chair of the Board of Directors Fidelis and Chair of Altum Group, former Chair at FTSE250 firm AJ Bell and former CEO of Newton Investment Management
- Romi Savova – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PensionBee
- Philip Smith – Founder and former CEO of Embark Group.
The fund is welcomed by Sir Ron Kalifa, author of the Kalifa Review:
“I am delighted to welcome the launch of the UK FinTech Growth Fund as a private sector initiative, backed by institutional capital, responding to one of the key recommendations of the Review. The Fund represents another key building block in the support ecosystem for growth stage UK FinTech businesses. This is an important step forward towards ensuring the UK retains its leadership role in FinTech.”
Lord Dominic Johnson CBE, Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade, also welcomed the fund, commenting:
“UK Fintech remains one of this country’s crown jewels, casting a shining light to global investors that attracted $12.5 billion of inward investment in 2022. Second only to the US and larger than the next European markets combined, UK Fintech can still reach new heights with new UK-based growth funds. I welcome the launch of the Fintech Growth Fund and wish them well in their fundraising.”
Steven Fine, Chief Executive, Peel Hunt, comments:
“The UK has a vibrant FinTech sector and the FinTech Growth Fund will become a leading provider of growth capital and long-term partner to the ecosystem. The talent and experience across its investment team, strategic partners and advisory team is unrivalled and we are delighted to be working with them and investing ourselves.
“This fund will help UK entrepreneurs and founders scale their proven business models, as they seek to enter new markets and develop new technology products. The FinTech Growth Fund is going to catalyse investment in the UK FinTech sector, in the area where it’s most needed, directly addressing the challenges raised in the Kalifa Review. We congratulate the Investment team for their efforts to date and look forward to working together.”
To view the Peel Hunt FGF research click here
To view the FGF website click here
