Fintechs dominate equity fundraises in 2019

Fintech firms received the majority of equity investment in the UK last year, research shows.

Analysis of equity fundraisings in the UK through private equity (PE), venture capital (VE), angel networks and crowdfunding by business data analyst Beauhurst has found a record £12bn was raised in 2019.

This was up 58 per cent annually but the number of deals actually fell by two per cent to 1,751.

Fintech fundraisings dominated, with the number of deals increasing by 11 per cent to a record 191.

This was followed by 157 deals across the artificial intelligence sector, up five per cent.

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The rest of the deals went to firms in sectors such as edtech, adtech, blockchain and life sciences.

Fintech firms also made up  most of the year’s mega deals, defined as those worth more than £50m.

This includes OakNorth Bank which raised £340m on February 2019.

PE and VC firms dominated activity, making up more than 700 equity deals last year but crowdfunding platforms such as Seedrs and CrowdCube – used by peer-to-peer lenders to raise funds – also had a record year.

Beauhurst said 2019 was the busiest year on record for crowdfunding platforms, with 424 deals.

CrowdCube helped firms raise £125.3m from over 191 deals while 215 campaigns were raised on Seedrs that attracted a total of £99.3m.

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