We asked 12 prominent European tech investors to pick out fintech startups they think will blow up in 2021. Here are the 20 they chose.
Cited by these VCs: Tara Reeves, partner at OMERS Ventures, Vinoth Jayakumar, partner at Draper Esprit, and Alokik Advani, managing partner at Fidelity International Strategic Investments.
In the OMERS, Draper Esprit, FISV portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $62 million
What it does: PrimaryBid helps improve access to public markets for retail investors by bundling orders.
Why it's hot in 2021: "PrimaryBid is allowing retail investors access to new equity issuance for public companies," Reeves said. "They have typically been shut out of the process, because it's been too hard for companies and investment banks to deal with thousands of small investors, even if they wanted to. Fair access is at the core of their mission, and having participated in the biggest tech IPO by volume in a decade on the LSE (Hut Group) and it's biggest accelerated book build (Compass Group) – and the rest! - it's fair to say that PrimaryBid has had a fantastic year."
Cited by these VCs: Tara Reeves, partner at OMERS Ventures.
In the OMERS portfolio? No
Total raised: $3.1 million
What it does: Tickr is an app that lets you invest in companies making a positive impact, and offset your carbon footprint.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Tickr is making it easy to invest ethically and in a climate conscious manner," Reeves said. "It benefits from two key trends: 1) young savers turning into investors and 2) the increasing importance of building financial products for people's financial decisions align with their values. Oh, and the user experience is gorgeous."
Cited by these VCs: Leila Zegna, founding partner at Kindred Capital.
In the Kindred portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $31 million
What it does: Flagstone helps individuals, SMEs, and charities manage their cash savings with one Flagstone account. The market is estimated at £1.4 trillion in the UK alone.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Flagstone's approach optimizes yield (which is currently sitting in an account making zero), and also reduces risk. On the other side of the platform, they help banks and building societies with a lower cost, strategic deposit origination channel," Zegna said.
"They are by far the market leader in the UK, with the largest supply base of over 45 banks on their panel (and growing), which gives them a competitive moat and provides the most competitive rates in the market."
Cited by these VCs: Leila Zegna, founding partner at Kindred Capital and Rana Yared, partner at Balderton Capital
In the Kindred portfolio? No.
In the Balderton Capital portfolio? Yes
Total raised: $51.7 million
What it does: Zego provides flexible and on-demand insurance coverage to gig economy workers in segments such as ride-hailing, ride sharing, car rental, and scooter sharing.
Why it's hot in 2021: "There's never been a more important moment for companies to act quickly and effectively to meet their customers' dynamic needs," Zegna said. "That's where companies like Zego can come in and empower those organisations to grow not just exponentially, but also effectively, offering many crucial on-demand delivery customers (like Deliveroo, JustEat, Stuart) and others the ability to grow their delivery fleets and supply bases with the right insurance and coverage to service their growing end customer needs. With the right execution, this could be the year where Zego really takes off!"
"As a 'new mobility' insurance provider, Zego has always put cutting-edge technology and customer service at the heart of its business," Yared added. "The exceptional team has consistently delivered affordable, flexible insurance products to delivery drivers and small businesses, enabling them to work safely, even during the pandemic."
Cited by these VCs: Vinoth Jayakumar, partner at Draper Esprit
In the Draper Esprit portfolio? No
Total raised: $16.6 million
What it does: Upvest, founded in 2017, provides a scalable API for other fintech startups to offer pan-European securities.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Upvest is building an API first defi (decentralized finance) company, allowing access to a blockchain-based platform for the alternative investments industry," Jayakumar said. "Their platform, which allows seamless tokenization of traditional asset classes such as real estate, could have the effect of dramatically reducing costs in the alternative investments world and therefore increasing access to a wider audience."
Cited by these VCs: Ed Lascelles, partner and head of technology investment, AlbionVC
In the AlbionVC portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $40 million
What it does: Elliptic supports crypto operators and increasingly traditional financial institutions in meeting regulatory compliance obligations.
Why it's hot in 2021: "As cryptocurrencies hit all-time highs and continue to enter the mainstream, 2021 will be a transformational year for Elliptic," Lascelles said. "Regulation, a key enabler for institutional and widespread participation in the crypto ecosystem will further mature in 2021 with Elliptic playing a pivotal role."
"The company has built a world-class leadership team and is only just beginning its growth acceleration journey. As a force for good in the crypto ecosystem, Elliptic will continue to delight customers, existing and new in 2021 and beyond. "
Cited by these VCs: Ed Lascelles, partner and head of technology investment, AlbionVC
In the AlbionVC portfolio? No
Total raised: $308.4 million
What it does: Tink's APl allows more than 3,400 banks across Europe to share customers' payment account data—if users give consent—with third parties including fintechs to access and develop new products.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Open Banking has peeped up with headlines on several occasions over the last few years but at the surface level is still yet to really cut through. That said beneath the surface is where all the action is really happening. Geoffrey Moore, in his lesser-known book 'The Gorilla Game' set out that architectural control is the highest form of sustainable competitive advantage and value creation and Tink is laying the foundation for exactly that — architecture of THE European infrastructure for open information and payment provision," Lascelles said.
"We should admire Tink for that. With the dislocations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic the integration and provision of near real time financial information will become increasingly critical for consumers and services providers alike. The narratives of digital acceleration should continue to play out this year and 2021 should be a great year for Tink."
Cited by these VCs: Mina Mutafchieva, senior principal at Dawn
In the Dawn portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $37.5 million
What it does: AccessFintech's platform allows capital market participants to share cleansed and normalized trading data, so that any difficult or exceptional data can be noticed quickly and efficiently.
Why it's hot in 2021: "AccessFintech has built a first-of-its-kind data-sharing network for capital markets, which is quickly becoming the market standard for exception resolution and post-trade collaboration," Mutafchieva said. "Their products enable customers to reduce both cost and risk, but also to solve their data reconciliation and tracking challenges — a critical focus area for banks, and reiterated by Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, Citi and Deutsche Bank's direct investment in the platform."
Cited by these VCs: Mina Mutafchieva, senior principal at Dawn Capital
In the Dawn Capital portfolio? No
Total raised: $57.3 million
What it does: Form3 helps banks and regulated fintechs move money faster through its cloud payments architecture.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Cloud-native, API-led architecture is swiftly becoming foundational for best-in-class payments infrastructure," Mutafchieva said. "Form3's end-to-end payment-as-a-service platform is a compelling offering for banks and fintechs seeking to reduce the cost and complexity of maintaining legacy on-premise systems. They've attracted the backing of major UK banks, and, with an enormous market to address, they no doubt now have their sights set firmly on replicating this success across Europe."
Cited by these VCs: Reshma Sohoni, founding partner at Seedcamp.
In the Seedcamp portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $38.9 million
What it does: Uncapped offers up to £1 million ($1.27 million) in funding to companies at a flat 6% fee.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Opportunities for founders to access capital may well be increasing but options that genuinely put the founders first and help them win can be few and far between," Sohoni said. "We love what Piotr, Asher and the team at Uncapped are building with their innovative new solution for European e-commerce founders looking to scale on their own terms. I think we'll continue to see a growth in alternative financing as founders become more demanding and have greater optionality."
Cited by these VCs: Reshma Sohoni, founding partner at Seedcamp.
In the Seedcamp portfolio? No
Total raised: $57.3 million
What it does: Cleo is a financial assistant designed for Gen Z.
Why it's hot in 2021: "The team has been on a really impressive journey and I think has done a great job of adapting to changing market dynamics and customer needs," Sohoni said. "Especially in today's economic climate, helping our younger people to save and get a greater hold over their own finances has never been more important."
Cited by these VCs: Alokik Advani, managing partner at Fidelity International Strategic Investments.
In the FISV portfolio? No
Total raised: $7.6 million
What it does: Capdesk is an equity management platform which helps companies digitize their equity information such as shareholder/employee equity and their cap table.
Why it's hot in 2021: "From our experience, startups struggle with the issuance of different classes of shares and ESOPs [employee stock ownership plans], valuations, and investor relations," Advani said. "The company's goal is to help startups to facilitate better incentive alignment, access wealth and reward employees better."
Cited by these VCs: Oliver Holle, partner at SpeedInvest
In the SpeedInvest portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $100.9 million
What it does: Bitpanda is a neo-broker that offers users access to cryptocurrencies.
Why it's hot in 2021: "We're really excited about Bitpanda here at Speedinvest. The thing that sets the business apart from much of the crypto sector is that it's built on really strong fundamentals: the user interface is exceptional, and has built a strong and loyal user base that loves the product; and the founder team is intelligent, scrappy and capital-efficient — they know how to squeeze every dollar," Holle said. "As a result, Bitpanda's been generating positive cash flow for a number of years already and is in a really strong position to reach unicorn status on the back of the crypto wave."
Cited by these VCs: Oliver Holle, partner at SpeedInvest
In the SpeedInvest portfolio? No
Total raised: $138.8 million
What it does: Salary Finance partners with employers to allow employees early access to their salaries, to take out loans, and to save money.
Why it's hot in 2021: There's a massive global trend to build financial products around salaries and wages, which is being driven by this growing need, especially among low-to-mid income brackets, for more manageable personal family finances," Holle said. "Salary Finance is a clear leader in this 'employee financial wellness' space in the UK and is already looking strong in the US too."
Cited by these VCs: Julian Rowe, partner at Latitude and Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech
In the Latitude and Augmentum portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $114.8 million
What it does: Tide provides loans for small- and medium-sized businesses.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Tide is building a digital financial platform for small- and medium-sized businesses, including core banking services," Rowe said. "As high street banks abandon [these] customers, core banking services offer an attractive entry point to a much deeper, high frequency and mission critical relationship with its customers, including payments, credit, business services and financial services.
"A major recipient of grants from the governments' [competition remedy] scheme to disrupt the high street incumbents, Tide has been able to invest this to support significant growth in customers and accelerate product development."
Cited by these VCs: Julian Rowe, partner at Latitude
In the Latitude portfolio? No
Total raised: $19.6 million
What it does: Codat simplifies access to small- and medium-sized business' financial data through a universal API integration to accounting packages.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Codat originally came to our attention through their partnership with our portfolio company, Tide," Rowe said. "Companies like Codat have the potential to create a valuable connective tissue to a large and under-served part of the enterprise economy. They can become true platform plays, as other businesses innovate with the data they provide access to, or can equally build their own applications and services on top of that data."
"With geographical expansion on the horizon and the significant new partnerships coming through it's still early days in fulfilling its potential."
Cited by these VCs: Rana Yared, partner at Balderton Capital
In the Balderton portfolio? No.
Total raised: $206 million
What it does: Raisin is a European savings and investment digital marketplace that helps customers to search, apply, deposit and save money via one, easy-to-use platform.
Why it's hot in 2021: "The company has a first-rate management team, which has really driven the business forward," Yared said. "With so much global upheaval, savers need to know they're getting the best ROI on every dollar and we've been impressed by Raisin's ability to tailor its products to its customers' needs."
Cited by these VCs: Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion Capital
In the Passion Capital portfolio? Yes.
Total raised: $31.2 million
What it does: Marshmallow provides insurance products via proprietary pricing algorithms and specializes in auto insurance.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Keep an eye out on what's becoming a highly trusted consumer brand for auto insurance," said Burbidge. "Two twin brothers started the company less than three years ago and are now a full-stack and fully licensed insurer whose Series A financing round valued them at $300 million. In the US market there have been three insurtech IPOs in recent months and Marshmallow's been growing as fast, if not faster, than all of them."
Cited by these VCs: Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion Capital
In the Passion Capital portfolio? No
Total raised: $1 million
What it does: Trustshare offers an escrow service that brands can implement with minimal code.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Fully brandable escrow service for business and vendors to offer to consumers when paying for goods and services," Burbidge said. "Terrific traction, not very hyped but definitely one to watch (and in my anti-portfolio already!)"
Cited by these VCs: Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech
In the Augmentum Fintech portfolio? No
Total raised: $3.8 million
What it does: Founded by ex-TransferWise and Skype employees in 2018, Salv provides a software, via a monthly subscription fee, to help banks find and stop financial crime.
Why it's hot in 2021: "Anti money laundering will remain high on the agenda of all financial institutions in 2021," Levene said. "Despite the European banking sector spending billions tackling the problem, it is estimated that only 1-2% of global money-laundering is detected. Extensive regulation means that the majority of a bank's compliance team's effort goes into compliance and box ticking, rather than actively fighting crime, but Salv is building a flexible, adaptable, crime-fighting platform to help institutions combat criminals."