It’s been a big six months for European fintech.

A dozen new financial unicorns have joined the stable, funding has reached record-breaking levels, and a wealth of IPOs are being lined up.

So it’s time we updated our Europe-famous (soon to be world-famous) fintech ranking, which lists the most exciting financial startups in town.

We’ve cleaned up the data (courtesy of Dealroom), removed the dead weights and also welcomed several newbies onto the list.

Over 30 new fintechs have ascended the ranks this year. The criteria for selection extended to those who, over the past 12 months, announced a notable Series A and B round*; or saw strong growth numbers or a healthy new valuation; or led an ‘up-and-coming’ sub-sector.

To dive straight into the 2021 fintech rankings, click here!

Or, if you can’t wait, here’s a sneak peek of the newbies that have made their debut:

• Saltpay (UK)

• Fintech OS (Romania)
• Sorare (France)
• Volt (UK)
• Juni (Sweden)
• Moneyhub (UK)
• Tractable (UK)
• Capchase (Spain)
• Copper (UK) 
• Clim8 (UK)
• Yulife (UK)
• Lovys (France)
• Paysend (UK)
  
• Scalable Capital (Germany)
  
• Monisnap (France)
• Finoa (Germany)
• Nextmarkets (Germany)
• Minna Technologies (Sweden)
• Wealthpilot (Germany)
• Nuri, previously bitwala (Germany)
• Pento (Denmark)
• WhenThen (Ireland)
• Wagestream (UK)
• Pollinate (UK)

Young ones to watch

Our rankings don’t tend to include seed companies (that’s why we compiled this list of Europe’s hottest early-stage fintechs, for our members).

Nonetheless, we have also made a few exceptions for the following:

• Collective Benefits (UK)
• Assurly (France)
• Raison (Estonia)
• Limina (Sweden)
• Airbank (Germany)
• Treecard (UK)

Any questions, corrections or comments on the rankings, please email [email protected]

Isabel Woodford is Sifted’s fintech correspondent. She tweets from @i_woodford.