It's always a good sign when startups are oversubscribed at seed stage. Take Pipe for example — it raised a competitive $6m seed in Feb 2020 and 12 months later had secured a $2bn valuation.
So which young startups are investors lusting over in European fintech — a sector that's unrivalled in hype and investment? Who's stood out among the 200 European fintechs that have raised $234m in pre/seed funding so far this year?
We’ve asked a dozen investors to nominate the ‘sexiest’ seed rounds over the past 7 months, highlighting deals that were heavily oversubscribed or were especially competitive (including those they lost out on!). We also consulted Dealroom to identify the largest seed rounds across different subsectors.
The 25 startups below may not yet have a product, a C-suite or any publicity, but VCs agree they’re onto a winner. Several are based outside the UK and two are cofounded by women.
These are the young fintechs that got investors’ tongues wagging:
Payments
Osu
Business management and payments for self-employed
Seed funding: £2.3m (March 2021)
Lead investor: Creandum
Sunday
QR codes for restaurants to speed up check out time
Seed funding: €21.8m (April 2021)
Lead investor: Coatue
ScalaPay
Italian third party solution that enables customers to buy now pay later
Seed funding: €40m (Jan 2021). *Includes debt
Lead investor: Fasanara Capital
Tillit
Platform that combines invoice financing with a buy now, pay later model
Seed funding: €2.5m (Feb 2021)
Lead investor: Sequoia
Monovate
2 in 1 model for compliance and card scheme sponsorship platform
Seed funding: £5m (March 2021)
Lead investor: Anonymous US investor
B2B
Re:cap
Berlin-based platform that allows subscription companies to get part of their revenue upfront by matching them with a lender
Pre-seed funding: €1.3m (May 2020)
Lead investor: Entrée Capital
Toqio
White label platform for banks to launch digital products
Seed funding: €8m (July 2021)
Lead investor(s): Seaya Ventures, Speedinvest and SIX FinTech Ventures
Airbank
Open banking platform that helps SMEs better manage their cash and financial data
Seed funding: €2.5m (Jun 2021)
Lead investor: New Wave VC
Weavr.io
Scalable platform to allow any company to add banking services via API
Seed funding: £7m (July 2021, extension)
Lead investor: Headline
LemonMarkets
Provides environment to build investing and trading tools for the stock market
Seed funding: n/a (Jan 2021)
Lead investor: Creandum
Consumer
Lightyear
Investment platform to better facilitate international trading
Pre-seed funding: $1.5m (June 2021)
Lead investor: Mosaic Ventures
StepEx
Finance solution aimed at postgraduate students
Seed funding: £1.1m (July 2021)
Lead investor: BBVA
Yonder
Challenger credit card
Seed funding: £4-5m (2021). Not yet publicly announced
Lead investor: Northzone/LocalGlobe
Hammock
Technology platform that will help landlords and letting agents manage properties.
Seed funding: £2m (Feb 2021, extension)
Lead investors: Ascension Ventures
Green finance
TreeCard
Fintech offering spending card made out of wood that funds reforesting as you spend
Seed funding: $5.1m (February 2021)
Lead investor: EQT Ventures
Minimum
API that embeds the option to allow carbon offsetting at checkout
Seed funding: $2.6m (June 2021)
Lead investor: Octopus Ventures
Insurance
Anansi
Risk protection for ecommerce businesses
Seed funding: £1.5m (July 2021)
Lead investor: Octopus Ventures
Bequest
Simplified wills and life insurance for the millennial market
Seed funding: £1.7m (July 2021)
Lead investor: Clocktower Ventures
Collective Benefits
Insurance, benefits and rewards fit for the future of work
Seed funding: £6m (July 2021)
Lead investor: NFX
Financial Education
Wajve
Gen Z financial platform bundling banking, advice and education into one app
Seed funding: €5m (June 2021)
Lead investor: EQT Ventures
ClearGlass
Allowing pension funds to discover exactly how much their asset managers are charging them
Seed funding: £2.6m (March 2021)
Lead investor: Lakestar/Outward VC
Crypto
Ramp
Open banking APIs to connect crypto with fiat, based in Poland
Seed funding: $10.1m (June 2021)
Lead investors: NFX and Galaxy Digital
GlobeDx
A crypto derivatives exchange where institutions and consumers transact digital currencies. Based across London and France.
Seed funding: €19.2m (April 2021, extension)
Lead investor: Y Combinator, Pantera Capital, and Draper Dragon
Rvvup
Next generation financial infrastructure bridging CeFi and DeFi for faster money movement
Pre-seed funding: $2m (July 2021)
Lead investors: HV Capital
Nayms
Insurance-based smart contract to provide coverage for digital assets
Seed funding: $6m (Jun 2021)
Lead investor: Coinbase Ventures, Spartan Ventures
Did we forget anyone? Email isabel@sifted.eu to chat!
Isabel Woodford is Sifted’s fintech correspondent. She tweets from @i_woodford.
Additional contributions by Tom Matsuda.
