Welcome to FinTech Monthly for November 2016 – your round up of the month’s top financial technology news.
In this episode, we have the largest FinTech raise since Brexit, FreeAgent’s flotation on AIM and the total VC-backed FinTech investments for Q3 2016.
Also, James Brockhurst from Gowling WLG spoke to us about how blockchain technology can be used in the transfer of physical assets.
This month, we filmed from the office of WorldRemit, an online money transfer service that enables people to easily send funds overseas.
Investments
In FinTech investment news, digital wealth manager Nutmeg raised a £30m Series C round. Led by Convoy Global Holdings, this marks the largest FinTech raise since Brexit.
Loot, a banking and money management app, raised £2.5m. Investors included Austrian early-stage fund SpeedInvest and Global Founders Capital.
FreeAgent
Edinburgh-based FreeAgent floated on AIM, raising £10.7m. The accounting software firm’s flotation comes after it raised over £1.2m on Seedrs in July last year.
Gold trading
Britain’s Royal Mint and derivatives exchange CME Group have teamed up to create a blockchain-based gold trading platform.
Due to launch in 2017, the digital platform is designed to cut the costs involved in trading the precious metal.
The ABC of FinTech
A survey of 70 UK-led financial services firms found 100% expect to purchase a product or commission work from a FinTech company over the next three years. That’s according to a report called The ABC of FinTech by law firm Mayer Brown.
It also revealed more than half of the UK-led FinTech companies it surveyed favoured acquisition by a financial services firm as their exit strategy.
VC-backed FinTech
The Pulse of FinTech report by CB Insights and KPMG found investment in VC-backed FinTech companies across the globe dropped 12% in Q3 2016.
Despite raising a total of $2.4bn, the number of deals dropped to 178, the lowest level since Q2 2014.
That’s all for this month’s roundup. Visit our FinTech news channel for more and subscribe now to receive future FinTech Monthly videos to your inbox.