3 NEW UK UNICORNS THIS WEEK
Hello and welcome back,
It's been another big week for UK tech with three new unicorns, billions of investment committed and a bunch of financial results.
LETS DIG IN.
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FUNDING
SCALING EUROPE
I released the 5th edition of my new European Roundup newsletter. In it I cover the top tech stories from across the continent.
I also released the latest episode of the Scaling Europe show (sponsored by Checkout.com and Specter). I spoke to:
🚀 Alan Chang: 3rd employee at Revolut and founder of UK unicorn Fuse Energy
🚀 Richard Hollingsworth: Founder and CEO of Fyxer AI, the Harry Stebbings-backed AI company that just raised $30m after hitting $17m ARR
🚀 Sam Tidswell-Norrish: Founder of OPUS, the leading private members club and community for founders
🚀 Andreas Klinger: Key figure behind EU–INC, investor at Prototype 🦾 and overall European Tech advocate
🚀 Sandeep Bakshi B.: Head of European investments at Prosus Ventures
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/@Scaling-Europe
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The SME banking fintech officially became a unicorn after raising $120m at a $1.5bn valuation from TPG .
It had been rumoured to be running a secondary sale at a $1bn+ valuation, and the company did confirm that some secondaries were sold but not how much.
The company expanded into India in 2022 where it has seen huge success, onboarding 800k businesses - more than it has in the UK.
Once Europe's most valuable tech company, it fell from grace in 2023 being valued at $9bn just a year after hitting a $40bn valuation.
Since then the company has gone from strength to strength and on Friday announced:
It has long been one of the UK's leading tech companies, so it's great to see it growing sustainably, achieving profitability AND providing liquidity to its employees.
Europe’s leading Pay by Bank provider just released its 2024 financial results:
It continues to grapple with high losses despite seeing some reduction there. That being said, the report does say that it halved monthly burn by year-end, suggesting it continues to make improvements.
It was another big week for the UK's leading Fintech. The company officially opened its new HQ in Canary Wharf where it announced a £3bn investment into the UK which will create over 1000 jobs. This would almost double the current UK headcount of 1300.
The company is also said to be trying to acquire a banking licence in Turkey where it's hiring senior execs.
CEO and Founder Barney Hussey-Yeo spoke to the The Times where he officially stated that the company was valued at over $1bn.
The company last publicly fundraised in 2022 at a $500m valuation, however in its 2024 annual report it revealed details of an undisclosed funding round worth $39m from existing investors. Based on the article in The Times it's safe to say that this round was at a $1bn+ valuation. This is hardly surprising given that the company is on $250m ARR and profitable!
In the article Barney also stated that "there's no way Cleo lists" in London and that the London Stock Exchange is "not fit for purpose for a tech company".
He joins the rank of other high profile tech CEOs who have been critical of the London Stock Exchange:
Barney went on to say that "all our tech champions are going to be on the Nasdaq and increasingly US-owned and operated", which he describes as a "real travesty".
Attempts by the Government to fix the issue have so far failed. This year there has been 12 IPOs in London that have raised £199m - the lowest amount for the period since 2000.
That being said Barney Hussey-Yeo is still optimistic that this can be fixed. If we change stamp duty rules, revamp the listing rules to make it more attractive to entrepreneurs, get pensions funds to invest more and give capital gain incentives there's no reason why London can't turn it around.
The UK fintech that is rumoured to be going through a process of getting acquired has announced plans to open a new office in Leeds in hopes of tapping into the “rich talent pool and innovative spirit of the North”.
Scheduled to open later this year, the new GoCardless office will serve as the company’s base in the north of England with a team of 50 staff employed within the first 12 months of opening.
THAT'S IT
If you liked this you'll LOVE my new newsletter - Scaling Europe. It's a similar format to this but for Europe-wide Tech.
Hi Seb, maybe small for this image but Edumentors also closed $2m round few weeks ago 🚀 Thanks for you support in the process!
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jonathan-perkinsrec_scalesmarter-scalefaster-founders-activity-7378710953401458688-BZ4L?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABmSnQgBRs3YNhU5fvDjBtfNjDTPPvrcQgI
Always good to hear some good news on the UK startup front