Five In Finance #8
As we enter into the second month of Q2 things are really starting to hot up in the fintech sector. Just last week we saw Revolut achieve unicorn status — a huge moment for alternative banking and a definite indicator of things to come. After an equally eventful seven days there was certainly no shortage of stories to include in this week’s post. Here are the five that made the cut…
Branson jumps on the private equity bandwagon…
Sir Richard is all set to take his maiden voyage into private equity, aiming to raise a £368m fund co-managed with London-based private equity house, Metric Capital. The partnership will be focusing on firms addressing the digitalisation of consumer businesses, those selling in-demand niche products and those selling “experiences” rather than physical goods. Interesting to note that Branson will be avoiding pure retail companies due to a decline in consumer confidence.
Shortlist for National Start-up Awards announced…
The shortlist was announced on Thursday, in what will undoubtedly be a huge boost for all the fantastic start-ups included. The best part? Swoop favourites CroiVale and Cityswifter got a much deserved nomination for ‘Early Stage Start-up’ and ‘Emerge-tech Start-up’ respectively. Good luck, guys — we’ll keep our fingers crossed!
Brexit geography vs. SME confidence…
The SME Growth Tracker has thrown up some interesting results in figures released this week, showing a split in economic outlook between areas which voted to remain in or to leave the EU. Businesses in ‘leave’ areas have been consistently more optimistic than those within the ‘remain’ regions, with the East and West Midlands in particular reporting more confidence than those in remain-backing Scotland and London. It’s certainly one to keep an eye on in the build up to B-day.
Revolut’s cryptocurrency cashback…
Our pals over at Revolut are really on a roll at the moment. This time last week they achieved unicorn status — going from a valuation of $350m to $1.7b in just a matter of months. This week they announced a further foray in to cryptocurrency, offering users of their new platinum cards 1% cash back in Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin. The move will undoubtedly attract a wealth of young, tech-minded users to their rapidly growing customer base.
Swoop partners launch Business Advisor platform…
ICAEW and Enterprise Nation launched their dynamic new platform on Tuesday, with the aim of dramatically increasing the reach and resources available to the UK’s small businesses. In the words of Enterprise Nation’s Emma Jones: “The platform identifies areas that businesses might need help with and matches them with a relevant advisor to offer that all-important support.” The platform will certainly be a hit among the start-up community, where getting the right advice early on can be the difference between failure and success.
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