New fintech fund to invest up to £800m per year

A new fintech growth fund will deploy up to £800m per year in funding for pre-IPO fintech companies, in an effort to plug the £2bn fintech growth funding gap.

The fund will make four to eight investments per year on average, ranging from £10m to £100m. The first investment will be made during the final quarter of this year. It will only make minority investments for equity and equity-linked securities.

The fund is backed by Barclays, London Stock Exchange Group, Mastercard, NatWest and Peel Hunt. As well as providing funding for growth firms, it will also offer strategic support to its portfolio companies.

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The Fintech Growth Fund was established following the publication of the Kalifa Review in 2021, which called for more funding in the fintech sector.

“The fund represents another key building block in the support ecosystem for growth stage UK fintech businesses,” said Sir Ron Kalifa, author of the Kalifa Review.

“This is an important step forward towards ensuring the UK retains its leadership role in fintech.”

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“The UK has always been at the forefront of innovation in fintech but there is a very clear and well-evidenced growth funding gap,” added Fintech Growth Fund co-founder and managing partner Phil Vidler.

“The Fintech Growth Fund will address the lack of available growth capital by providing a first-of-its-kind domestic, growth-stage, fintech-focused venture capital fund backed by strategic investors.”

The fund’s non-executive advisory board will be chaired by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Philip Hammond.

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Snoop founder and former Virgin Money chief executive will be part of the team alongside PensionBee chief executive Romi Savova, former Lord Mayor of London Sir Charles Bowman and former Newton chief executive Dame Helena Morrisey.

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