KPMG UK - Fintech Focus Report - 2020

Fintech
Focus
#UKFintechFocus
July 2020
kpmg.com/uk/fintechfocus
2 UK Fintech Focus
About KPMG
KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, operates from 21 offices across the UK with
approximately 17,600 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a revenue of £2.40 billion in
the year ended 30 September 2019. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing
Audit, Tax, Legal and Advisory services. We operate in 154 countries and have over 200,000
professionals working in member firms around the world. KPMG fintech professionals include
partners and staff in over 50 fintech hubs around the world, working closely with financial
institutions and fintech companies to help them understand the signals of change; identify the
growth opportunities; and to develop and execute on their strategic plans.
The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International
Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and
separate entity and describes itself as such.
About Google Cloud

Google Cloud is widely recognized as a global leader in delivering a secure, open, intelligent and
transformative enterprise cloud platform. Our technology is built on Google’s private network and
is the product of nearly 20 years of innovation in security, network architecture, collaboration,
artificial intelligence and open source software. We offer a simply engineered set of tools and
unparalleled technology across Google Cloud Platform and G Suite that help bring people,
insights and ideas together. Customers across more than 150 countries trust Google Cloud to
modernise their computing environment for today’s digital world.
About the Author

Michael Pearson is the founder of Clarus Investments and is an experienced director, investor
and consultant who is recognised globally as an expert on strategy and innovation in financial
services. Michael has more than 30 years of experience in financial services and strategy
consulting. He advises start-ups, investors and established companies in developed and
developing markets on strategy, innovation and all aspects of corporate development. Michael
has an MA from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Prior to
establishing Clarus Investments in 2006, he worked for Lloyds TSB in corporate strategy,
development and venturing roles.
Purpose of this Report

KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech research is tracking the dynamic and growing UK fintech sector.
With a lack of in-depth analytics on the sector for founders, investors and services providers,
our multi-year research programme is shedding light on the performance of fintech start-ups and
the opportunities for the UK to realise significant benefits from the combination of our technology
entrepreneurship and world leading financial services.
This report builds on our initial findings from 2019 and we will continue to evolve the research to
provide both direction and a sounding board on sector progress. Expect us, with our ecosystem
partners such as Google Cloud and Innovate Finance, to continue to develop these insights as the
sector progresses.
© 2020 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member
firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. #UKFintechFocus
UK Fintech Focus 3
Contents
Google Foreword 4
Executive Summary 5
Calls to Action 6
Key Findings 7
Research Overview 8
Fintech and the Impact of COVID-19 10
Performance Trends 14
Financing Trends 20
Valuation Trends 26
A Sector and Vertical Comparison 32
Methodology and Research Notes 36
Points of Contact 40
“
Like most sectors of the economy, UK fintech will face some key challenges
as a direct result of COVID-19, including a significant funding gap. We need
to collaborate as an ecosystem to address these challenges and protect the
increased access, transparency, and inclusion that fintech has brought to our
financial services sector over the past decade.
The UK is known around the world for its leadership in financial innovation,
and fintech has a vital role to play in society as our economy recovers and
the digitisation of our lives accelerates. This report highlights how important it
is for investors and entrepreneurs to work together to ensure the continued
”
democratisation and transformation of financial services.
Janine Hirt
Chief Operating Officer, Innovate Finance
4 UK Fintech Focus
Google Foreword
Focus on Fintechs: The case for operational efficiency and cost reduction
Over the past few months, our world has changed. 3. Limited visibility and control -
However, during these challenging times the unique
Given a rapidly changing landscape, few startups have
DNA of fintechs can thrive and illuminate an otherwise
a complete picture of their IT spend to make educated
unnavigable path to financial recovery. Indeed, fintechs
decisions about where and how to reduce costs, or
are well suited to analyse and optimise existing
whether to reinvest in other strategic areas. Fintech
workflows which may be inefficient, brittle, and static.
leadership requires granular visibility and intelligent
For most fintechs, it’s not simply about spending less; services that remove risks associated with cost and
it’s about project prioritsation and product feature resource optimisation without compromising data
optimisation, often with limited and finite funding, security nor the robust governance required in the
in order to maintain business continuity and ensure financial services sector.
longevity. But what does this mean in more practical
It is often said that, ‘Cloud isn’t something you buy,
and actionable terms? There are three main issues
cloud is something you do’. Fintech leaders need
facing fintechs:
facts, knowledge, and best practices so they can
1. Fluctuating business conditions - swiftly address investment prioritisation aligned with
cost optimisation as a function of process evolution.
Fintechs, like other financial services companies,
As fintechs accelerate their digital transformation,
must keep pace with dramatically changing
they need a platform to manage data at scale, ingest
requirements to survive and thrive. IT teams need
and analyse data in real time, develop and modernise
solutions which enable rapid and sustainable
applications, and leverage new artificial intelligence AI
innovation, all to decrease time to market and
capabilities in meaningful ways.
time to value, and provide the agility and scalability
needed to address frequently shifting requirements. Google Cloud supports financial institutions as well
as the evolving UK fintech market. KPMG’s research
2. New investment needs -
offers keen insights into the fintech market, where
Fintechs must adapt their business models to there remains a mix of excitement and uncertainty—
rationalise existing runways and reconcile product but tremendous opportunities across this thriving
roadmaps with profitability. IT must now prioritise sector. Additionally, Google Cloud is committed to
projects for investment, optimise existing projects maintaining the health of our systems that support the
and product features to reduce the runway to financial services industry, and can help empower our
profitability, and potentially even pivot existing customers’ business continuity planning and resilience.
projects and products to reduce burn rate, all with a
The vast majority of financial institutions and fintech
view to ensuring the survival of the business.
start-ups already see the benefits of cloud-based
infrastructures as they offer more flexible computational
capacity. In 2020 and beyond, the smart path to
surviving and thriving in these uncertain times leads to
a focus on operational efficiency and cost reduction.
Matthew Yeager
Head of Startups, Architect
Google Cloud - Digital Natives UKI
UK Fintech Focus 5
Executive Summary
This report follows on from the UK Fintech Focus we funding on hand to cover future projected needs. We
published a year ago which aimed to provide a better have estimated that the sector would need to raise
understanding of some of the dynamics of performance, approximately £825 million to get to a point where
financing and valuation of UK fintech start-ups. all companies had at least 18 months of funding.
We have expanded the research this year to include 100 This is achievable, with investors likely to support the
companies with a broad representation across the main viable businesses in their portfolio. However, it may
fintech verticals, covering both financial services and accelerate the decline of some marginal businesses
technology/processing businesses. and add to the failure rate which so far has been
relatively low in fintech.
In the past 12 months, the sector has continued to thrive.
KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech research found that venture We expect that valuations will fall in the next 12 months.
capital investment, private equity investment and M&A At the very least, investors will seek greater downside
in the sector reached £38.4 billion in 2019, up from protection for any new funding. However, investor
£20.1 billion in 2018. Continuing the momentum, several returns on paper have been quite attractive to date,
large funding rounds were announced by our sample particularly for early stage investors. We also need to
of companies in the first quarter of 2020. This progress bear in mind that the sector overall (for companies
across the sector has now been halted by the emergence founded since 2010) could be valued at around £49
of the COVID-19 pandemic. billion. A modest decline in valuation will not be
catastrophic and investors are not going to abandon their
We noted in last year’s report that profitability has
valuable holdings without very careful consideration.
been hard to achieve for fintech start-ups and the trend
has continued over the past 12 months. For some, Only two companies in our sample achieved an exit for
profitability has not been a high priority as the focus has investors in the past 12 months, and these were trade
been on building scale. We estimate that annual losses sales with unannounced valuations. That brought the
for fintech start-ups in the UK which were started since total number of exits in the sample to four, including one
2010 are currently in the region of £1.5 billion. Investors IPO, which is still a relatively low number. We anticipate
have been willing to support these losses, even at that the opportunities for a profitable exit could be even
companies which have been operating for several years. more limited until it is much clearer what the operating
We think that the crisis will put increasing pressure on environment is going to look like post-crisis.
businesses to show that they have a viable business
There will undoubtedly be many short and medium-
model and a clear path to profitability once markets
term challenges for the sector due to COVID-19 but
return to something close to normality. Some of the
overall, we are optimistic that the long-term trend toward
companies in our sample have already executed strategy
digitisation will accelerate. This will provide a boost to
pivots and we expect that several more will need to do
the companies which survive the crisis.
so in the next 12 months.
Finally, I would like to thank the highly-regarded industry
These ongoing losses, and the need for regular fund
leaders from across the fintech community who
raising meant that going into the crisis, almost half of
have invested their time to review the data provided
companies in the sector had less than 18 months of
through this report, to share their views on the results
and discuss key topics that have an impact on fintech
businesses across the UK.
Anton Ruddenklau
Partner & Head of Digital and Innovation, Financial Services, KPMG in the UK
Global Co-Leader for Fintech, KPMG International
6 UK Fintech Focus
Calls to Action
This year’s findings, in the context of a socially distanced, and unprecedentedly disrupted, corporate landscape, bear some
resemblance to what we learned in our 2019 Fintech Focus report, although in a much starker form. The most prominent
themes in our analysis are the same themes that will heavily feed the forthcoming UK Fintech Sector Review being led by
Ron Khalifa.
Our calls to action, therefore, build on our recommendations from last year but incorporate a new wave of challenges and
opportunities facing the sector:
1. Patient scaling capital must be found

For fintech firms that are truly transformative with their business models, the path to achieving
profitability at scale is likely to be 10 years plus. Likewise, for these firms to remain competitive, they
will need to be fewer in number and more systemically important. Now more than ever, providers of
patient capital – institutional investors – need investment data to support their participation.
2. Fintech market data requires significant maturing

The quality, reliability, frequency and scope of publicly available data needs significant enhancement
in order to create a thriving, and self-aware, fintech ecosystem. Current data points, including the
following research, contribute towards a patchwork of market intelligence, but they are not significant
enough to move the sector forwards alone or, indeed, make it more investible.
3. Evaluating demand
Whilst market data is required for supply side evaluation of the fintech, little formal research is
available on demand side either from legacy financial institutions or from adjacent sectors like
e-commerce, healthcare, real estate or smart cities, for example.
Whilst it’s appreciated that competitively sensitive research shouldn’t be spoon fed to the private
markets, it would be prudent to see at least legacy institutional trade bodies publishing content on
levels of digitisation for their members. Likewise, the government’s own industrial or digital strategies
have a part to play here. Establishing common use cases for industry innovation and change will only
benefit the entire ecosystem and, in particular, the end users of financial services.
4. Founder support
We sense that COVID-19 is sharpening the minds of the entire fintech sector – founders, investors, service
providers and regulators – on what makes a prosperous and sustainable ecosystem.
Part of this maturing of sentiment – and consolidation of the existing waves of fintech businesses - will
focus back on the basics. New or existing founders will need further skills, support and advice on:
– Investment case development that frames the right balance of ambition and feasibility
– Understanding what structural profitability is and how the unit economics of their business stack up
– Shortening the path to profitability
– Partnering for fast growth – effective partnering is a continued industry issue and involves much more
than effective onboarding
UK Fintech Focus 7
Key Findings
This study builds on last year’s research report and is based on a sample of 100 fintech start-ups in the UK across
a range of verticals. The analysis considers the performance, financing and valuation of these companies based on
statutory filings with Companies House in the UK and where possible extrapolates this to the whole universe of fintech
start-ups which have been established since 2010.
– Most fintech startups are still struggling to achieve – Some notable differences between Financial
profitability Services and Technology/Processing businesses
Although the failure rate of companies in our sample The primary difference between these two types
is relatively low with just 4 out of 100 companies of fintech is that the companies providing financial
going into administration, only 6% are at least services tend to be the ones raising the larger
breaking even and 84% of the continuing businesses amounts of funding (e.g. Revolut and Monzo). Some
reported increasing losses in their last financial year. of these companies are also generating relatively high
Even companies more than 5 years old are struggling revenues given their stage of development but at the
to reach profitability with 79% of this group increasing same time incurring relatively high annual losses. We
losses in their last financial year. Extrapolating from observe little difference in terms of investor returns to
our sample to the universe of all fintech start-ups date between the sectors. The Paytech vertical, which
since 2010, we estimate the annual losses for the includes both types of fintech, does stand out from
sector in 2019 were in the region of £1.5 billion. the other verticals in terms of investor returns which
may be related to the successful exits taking place
– Equity financing has continued to be available for elsewhere in this business line.
loss making companies
– The impact of COVID-19 on short term
The more positive news is that equity financing
performance should be manageable
continues to be available even for loss making
companies that have been operating several years As most of the start-ups in our sample have relatively
although, as companies get older, increases in low revenues and are loss making anyway, a short-
valuation start to get smaller and investor returns on term decline in revenues, if compensated for with
paper decline. The headline figures on investment some modest cost savings, should have limited
are, however, somewhat distorted by the large equity impact on profitability. However, the crisis will push
financing rounds of a few companies, with 5% of the out the time at which businesses might be able to
sample representing 70% of total equity financing in get to break even and hence there will be pressure
the past 12 months. to refine business models and adjust strategies to
reduce the need for further financing.
– Investor returns on paper are still high but were
probably falling even before the crisis – Many companies need financing to fill
funding gaps
The median internal rate of return on paper for first
round investors as of the latest round of funding When heading into the pandemic, we estimate that
for each company is 71%. These returns typically just over 50% of companies in the sector had more
decline as a company goes through multiple rounds than 18 months of funding runway which will help
of funding and if we adjust for this factor we find that them get through without having to raise funds
the internal rate of return at companies raising funds earlier than planned. However, the remainder had an
in the past 12 months is 18% below what we would estimated funding gap of £825 million if an 18-month
have expected. This suggests that valuations have funding runway is to be achieved and this will need to
been falling slightly. be filled relatively quickly for many. Existing investors
are likely to step up where they are confident of the
business model viability, and this funding could be
enhanced by government support schemes.
8 UK Fintech Focus
Research Overview
We are tracking the financing, valuation and performance of a growing sample of fintech start-ups in the UK.
The sample now comprises 100 companies which have all been founded since 2010 and have had at least
2 rounds of external funding.
Our sample represents a cross-section of fintech verticals (e.g. Paytech, Regtech etc.) and includes several of the
major companies in each vertical. It covers a range of businesses within the fintech sector from which we have
sought to identify insights and trends. The sample is split into two main categories:
– financial service providers (typically regulated activities) (54)
– technology or processing service providers (46)
Note that there are seven companies in the financial services category which, though primarily providing a service
direct to end users, are also providing technology to other companies. Hence, we consider these to be hybrid
business models.
UK Fintech Focus 9
Summary Statistics for the Sample
£5.3bn £18.7bn £1.7bn
Total equity raised Total valuation* Total cumulative losses
Per Company in the Sample Mean Median
Equity raised £53m £17m
Latest valuation £187m £42m
Number of funding rounds 4.8 5.0
Years since first funding round 5.2 4.8
IRR from first to latest round** 94% 71%
* Based on latest round of funding

** Internal rate of return on paper for first round investors based on share prices at first and latest round
10 UK Fintech Focus
Fintech and the

Impact of COVID-19
At the time of publishing this report, The UK government has launched various support
COVID-19 continues to take its toll on initiatives for businesses, and more specifically for start-
ups. This will enable some to access debt or equity
people and businesses in the UK and financing which will provide short-term relief, but loans
elsewhere. The fintech sector is not will need to be repaid at some point and equity financing
immune. This is the first major disruption comes with a cost.
that the recent wave of fintech start-ups Our research distinguishes between fintechs which provide
which emerged after the global financial financial services and those which provide technology/
crisis have had to deal with. processing services and we expect the impact on these to
differ:
Although there may be a few beneficiaries,
– Financial Services businesses
most companies face challenges in the
short to medium term. There are no firm The impact on these businesses will vary depending
on the vertical and market segment they are operating
predictions of when business will get back
in. Broadly speaking they will be negatively affected by
to normal, or what normal looks like, but decreasing consumer spending and increasing credit
many expect it will not be for at least 12 to risk but there will also be some opportunities as more
18 months. activity migrates to digital channels. Any service that is
non-essential for consumers or businesses and does
not offer clear cost savings is likely to suffer in the
short term.
– Technology/Processing businesses
The impact on these businesses depends to a large
extent on the financial health of their corporate
customers – the companies which are deploying the
solutions into their own operations. It is possible that
many projects in progress will complete and the impact
will only be felt in 6 to 12 months if the sales funnel
does not refill and budgets are constrained. However,
solutions that deliver meaningful cost savings for clients
with a short payback will still be in demand.
Looking ahead there will be longer term growth
opportunities due to the acceleration towards digital. This
can already be seen in some sectors with the increase in
working from home and the growth in online shopping. In
the meantime, fintech start-ups will come under growing
pressure from their investors to demonstrate they have
a viable business model and a clear path to profitability,
based on realistic assumptions.
UK Fintech Focus 11
“
Many companies need financing
to fill funding gaps. Raising
funding is always a difficult
process, even for some of the
most promising fintechs, and
the crisis has exacerbated the
problem. Not only has capital
become more challenging to raise,
many that do raise have been
forced to accept lower valuations.
That being said, raising capital -
even at a lower valuation - is still a
”
great achievement in this climate.
Liam Gray
Head of Fintech programme, Tech Nation
12 UK Fintech Focus
Potential Impact on the Financial Services Businesses in the Fintech Sector
Vertical Potential impact

Digital banks and neo-banks will lose out on international payment fees with
travel being dramatically reduced. Those starting to do consumer or business
Bankingtech lending will find this challenging even with government support. There may
be some benefit from consumers using this opportunity to switch from
incumbents.
The international money transfer and remittance businesses are likely to
suffer from falling volumes although the companies focused on digital
Paytech channels will fare better than branch-based incumbents. Point-of-sale
payments and loyalty businesses will also have seen a big drop in volume,
but online payments businesses are likely to benefit.
While government schemes provide the opportunity to make more loans
to businesses backed by guarantee, we have already seen a deterioration
in credit quality leading to higher provisions at major banks. Marketplace
Lendingtech
lenders, although they do not take credit risk on their own balances sheets,
will also be affected as investors seek to withdraw funds and attractive new
lending opportunities are limited.
Insurance for consumers and small businesses may be less directly affected
than for example lending, but those companies providing services to
Insurtech freelancers and other gig-economy workers will face challenges. There is
also a risk, rightly or wrongly, that insurance will be seen as a discretionary
expenditure as budgets are being cut.
With falling stock markets and tight household budgets, it may be that
consumers focus less on longer term wealth management issues such as
Wealthtech saving for retirement. Services which help people to save money, such as
personal finance apps, may however be in greater demand as people need to
make savings and perhaps have more time at home to deal with this.
“
Effective applications of technology and data by fintech challengers along
with their inherent agility mean they are well positioned to respond to
the emerging structural opportunities. Incumbent players still control
more than 90% of the global market, and many of the financial services
”
giants of tomorrow have yet to emerge.
Tim Levene
CEO, Augmentum Fintech
UK Fintech Focus 13
“
London and the UK’s fintech sector is not immune to the impact of the
pandemic, but it does seem to be weathering the storm.
Recent research by Beauhurst shows that only 1% of fintechs are
critically affected and 2% are severely affected by coronavirus. This is
low compared to the wider ecosystem, where 17% of high growth
companies fall into these categories.
This resilience could be attributed to several factors. Firstly, fintechs’
tend to have good access to funding and many have raised funds before
lockdown, which has given them the cash reserves to build a sufficient
runway. There is also an extensive network and supportive ecosystem
for fintech companies in London and the UK, which is invaluable when
adapting, resource planning and even re-strategising. In general, tech
firms seem to be better configured to respond to adverse climates
due to their adaptability, innovative approaches and ability to move into
remote working seamlessly.
Last year, $2.11billion was invested in London fintech companies across
142 deals, second only to San Francisco. Recent funding announcements
by Revolut, Yapily, Thought Machine, iwoca, Onfido and Checkout.com
shows the strength of London’s fintechs who have become established
”
brands with strong reputations.
Dhaval Gore
Head of Financial, Business Services & Technology
London & Partners
14 UK Fintech Focus
Performance
Trends
Start-ups are expected to lose money The median annual loss for our sample of companies
in the first several years of operation. increases each year and in Year 5 of operation reaches
£2.7 million. The mean annual loss at this point is £6.2
However, initial business plans designed to million because there is a skewed distribution.
attract investors in our experience typically For example, one company we track was losing
forecast break-even by Year 5 of operation. £53 million in its fifth year.
The reality is much different as we can see Only six of the companies in our sample were breaking
from our sample. even or profitable as of their latest annual reports. In
last year’s analysis we found that five companies were
achieving this milestone but two of those are now loss
making again whereas three others have moved into
profitability. 84% of the companies in the sample which
had not already failed or been sold reported increasing
losses and, furthermore, 79% of companies over five
years old reported increasing losses. Progress towards
profitability is therefore still quite slow.
Only four of the companies in our sample have gone
into administration, an increase from two last year.
Of these four companies, three have been able to
restructure and keep operating in some form. This
is a low failure rate relative to what we would have
expected.
A few of the notable cases in terms of financial
performance have been:
– OakNorth, the SME lender, reported revenue of
£104 million and profit after tax of £50 million in the
year to December 2019, which was the 5th year of
reporting.
– TransferWise, the international payments business,
reported revenue of £179 million and profit after tax
of £12 million in the year to March 2019, which was
the 8th year of reporting.
– iwoca: the SME marketplace lender, reported
revenue of £47 million and profit after tax of £1
million in the year to December 2018, which was
the 7th year of reporting.
UK Fintech Focus 15
These cases show what is possible, but they are

relatively rare. Investors have been prepared until
now to tolerate continuing losses at their portfolio
companies as they build scale in terms of number
of customers, and in some instances also embark
on geographic expansion. This has certainly been the
case for some of the digital banks which have incurred
substantial losses in their early years of operation.
However, even before the latest crisis, there were
signs of growing pressure to move faster to break-
even. Anne Boden, the founder of Starling Bank, is
one industry executive who has recognised this and
publicly stated that the bank expected to achieve its
first monthly profit by early 20211.
There is a noticeable difference between the
performance profiles of financial services and
technology/processing businesses in the sample. Of
the 20 companies reporting revenues in Year 5, there
were 7 financial services businesses with revenues
greater than £10m (e.g. Revolut, TransferWise),
whereas there were no technology/processing
businesses at this level. The corollary of this is that
losses were much higher for the financial Services
businesses at this stage of their development.
1
The Fintech Times, 17 March 2020
© 2020KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member
16 UK Fintech Focus
Companies Increasing Losses in Their Latest Financial Reports
Based on our sample, we have
84% 79%
estimated that the annual losses in
2019 for the whole fintech start-up
sector (companies founded from
2010 onwards) were in the region
of £1.5 billion
of all companies of companies

in sample > 5 years old
iwoca Revenue and Cumulative Profit After Tax
50
40
30
20
(£m)
10
-10
-15
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7
Revenue Cumulative Profit After Tax
iwoca raised a Series D round of £20 million at the beginning of 2019, bringing total equity financing to £58 million
and valuing the company at around £290 million.
UK Fintech Focus 17
The impact of COVID-19 on performance

We have assessed the potential impact on the We can see from this analysis that, in fact, having
performance of companies by looking at a couple of relatively low revenues could mean less of an impact
cases. One is based on the median profile of a fintech on the bottom line which is already quite negative.
in year 5 of its life, and the other is based on a more Since the majority of fintechs are in this situation, then
successful and developed fintech which is generating the immediate impact could be more manageable,
substantial revenue and breaking even. These are as long as some compensating cost savings can be
modelled on the real financials of a selection of achieved. It does not seem unreasonable to think that
companies and show that: a 25% cost reduction is possible, and several options
exist, including:
– CASE A: In this case, we have taken the median
revenue and profit after tax in Year 5 and then – Hiring freezes (not replacing leavers)
applied a 50% reduction in revenue (and cost
– Furloughing of staff
of sales), and a compensating 25% reduction in
operating costs. The result of this is that annual – Salary or directors’ remuneration cuts
losses fall from £8.0m to £6.9m.
– Reduced use of contractors
– CASE B: In this case, we have taken the example
– Cuts to marketing
of a company with revenues of £100m which is
breaking even. Applying the same 50% drop in – Renegotiation of lease or other contractual terms
revenues, and the 25% reduction in costs, the Of course, this disruption means that it will take longer
company moves from break even to a loss of for companies to reach break-even, which will have an
£12.5m. impact on financing needs and on valuation, something
we will look at more closely in the next sections.
“
The cyclical need for fintech innovation also reflects the significant Corporate
focus in this space. Essentially, financial institutions rely on fintech companies
to threaten their businesses, even as they seek to evolve their own services
”
and propositions – it is a form of outsourced R&D.
Ruth Foxe Blader

Partner, Anthemis
18 UK Fintech Focus
“
The last year has seen investment in the fintech sector continue at
significant levels, continuing the trend of the previous 12 months.
Although it is likely that in retrospect the growth will be interrupted
by the effects on the economy of COVID-19 both funding and
valuations will remain competitive for those many fintechs thriving
under what will become the “new normal”.
As a consequence of the pandemic accelerating the pace of digital
adoption, the opportunity for fintech to capitalise on the shift in
consumer and business behaviour as a result of COVID-19 has
”
expanded.
Tim Levene
UK Fintech Focus 19
Indicative Impact on Profit After Tax for Two Sample Cases

50% reduction in revenue and cost of sales
25% reduction in staff and other costs
CASE A: Typical Fintech in Year 5 with £7m Revenue and -£8m PAT
PAT Revenue Cost of sales Staff costs Other costs PAT

actual decline reduction reduction reduction revised
0.0
-2.0
-8.0 -6.9
-4.0
-6.0 1.2
(£m)
1.7
-8.0
1.8
-10.0
-12.0 -3.5
-14.0
CASE B: Established Fintech with £100m Revenue and Breaking Even
PAT Revenue Cost of sales Staff costs Other costs PAT

actual decline reduction reduction reduction revised
0.0
0.0
-12.5
-10.0 5.0
7.5
-20.0 25.0
(£m)
-30.0
-40.0
-50.0
-50.0
-60.0
20 UK Fintech Focus
Financing
Trends
Financing for fintech start-ups has What is noticeable from our sample and from the
continued at a high level in 2019 and into overall industry data is the concentration of this funding
in a small number of cases. The sample companies
2020. According to KPMG’s analysis for raised £1.1 billion of equity finance in the year to
Pulse of Fintech, venture capital investment, 31st March 2020 and 70% of this was due to 5
private equity investment and M&A in the companies. The average funds raised per company was
sector in the UK was £38.4 billion in 2019, £27 million but the median was just £7 million, which
an increase from £20.1 billion in 2018. illustrates the skewed distribution.
Again, there was a clear difference between financial
services and technology/processing businesses. The
average amount raised by the former was £38 million
and by the latter was £12 million. The four largest raises
were by financial Services companies, led by Revolut
which raised £385 million, followed by World Remit
which raised £137 million.
Typically, the Technology/Processing business have
not required as much funding as the consumer facing
businesses such as Revolut which are trying to build
global scale. However, there were a couple of notable
recent announcements which were made in April 2020:
– Onfido, which provides digital onboarding solutions,
had raised £34 million at a valuation of c£112 million
up to the end of March 2020, but announced a
further £80 million of funding in April 2020.
– Privitar, which provides software for enterprise-
wide privacy protection, had raised £50 million at
a valuation of c£117 million up to the end of March
2020, but announced a further £64 million of
funding in April 2020.
These are examples of companies which may not be
as negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis as others
in the sector, if at all. Demand for digital ID solutions is
likely to grow, and there is a continuing need for data
privacy solutions.
2
“Pulse of Fintech H2 2019”, KPMG, February 2020
UK Fintech Focus 21
One of the features of the development of the sector

has been that loss-making companies have stayed
private for a relatively long time and been able to
continue raising funds. Our analysis of the funding
rounds completed by our sample companies in the year
to 31st March 2020 illustrates some of these features:
– For companies raising in their first four years
(measured from the date of the first external
funding round), 93% increased the size of the
funding round relative to the previous round and
increased the share price for the round on average
by 131% relative to the previous round.
– For companies raising in their 5th year or later, only
55% increased the round size from the previous
round, but with an increase in share price of 106%
on average. For the older companies which did not
increase their round size, the average increase in
share price was only 7%.
We can also see from this year’s analysis that the
time between funding rounds is increasing. The
data shows that in the first few rounds of funding,
the gap between rounds is between 300 and 350
days, less than one year. However, for the funding
rounds recorded in the past 12 months by our sample
companies, the days between funding rounds has
increased to nearly 500 days.
22 UK Fintech Focus
Profile of Funding Rounds in the 12 Months to 31/03/20
Proportion of Mean Price

Years of Fund Raising
Sample Increase
Increase in round size 93% 131%

Years 1-4
Decrease in round size 7% 41%
Increase in round size 55% 106%
Years 5 or more
Decrease in round size 45% 7%
Median Days Between Funding Rounds
600 Funding Rounds in

12 months to 31/03/20
500
400
Days
300
200
100
313 357 498
0
Between Between Between
Rounds 1 and 2 Rounds 2 and 3 Latest and Previous Round
UK Fintech Focus 23
“
As cash becomes the true scarce resource, reinforcing economics needs to be
paired with active cash preservation strategies. Containing the cost base has
been the immediate reaction across the industry - but with limited number of
months of cash at hand (and expectations from investors to reforecast longer
runways in case the crisis lengthens or evolves into unforeseen ways), startups
have felt the need to be more creative around securing cash availability.
This has drastically changed the dynamics between CEOs and existing
investors, as all have had to work closer together than before and show extra
levels of creativity to juggle resource allocation and availability and business
”
priorities under extreme uncertainty.
Manuel Silva
Partner and Head of Investments, Santander InnoVentures
24 UK Fintech Focus
The impact of COVID-19 on financing
The data shows, and we know from observation, that What we find is that, going into the crisis at the
most start-ups are in a continuous fund-raising cycle. beginning of April, only just over half of companies had
Once a round has been completed, founders are already more than 18 months of funding headroom. As the
thinking and planning for the next round. A typical chart opposite shows, around 23% of companies were
start-up probably needs 18 months of “runway” to be already in a negative equity position and another 9%
confident of its financial position if there are delays in had less than 6 months of runway. The companies in a
executing the next round. negative equity position will probably already have been
using short-term funding sources to bolster their balance
We have therefore tried to estimate the funding position
sheets or possibly completed unannounced funding
of our sample of companies based on:
rounds (though this is rare).
– Shareholders’ equity at the last annual report
Various options for further funding exist such as:
– The run rate of losses at the last annual report
– Bank loans
extrapolated to 31st March 2020
– Venture debt
– The funding that has been reported or announced up
to 31st March 2020 – Convertible loans
Shareholders’ equity for most of the companies in the – Equity
sample tends to be the share premium less retained
Relatively few companies can get bank loans or venture
earnings as there are not normally any other reserves.
debt – just 10-15% of our sample leading up to the crisis.
Net profit after tax is a reasonable though not perfect
Existing or new investors, plus the government scheme
indicator of operating cash flow because capital
may be able to provide convertible loans or equity.
expenditure tends to be low for fintech companies, and
Companies that have had only one round of funding
trade debtors and creditors are not a big factor when
from angel investors could be more at risk compared
revenues are relatively low.
to companies which have already taken finance from
An illustration of the calculation is shown for one venture capital firms or corporate investors.
company in the chart on the opposite page. This
company had equity of £15 million at 31st December
2018 and we have extrapolated that to be just £1 million
at 31st March 2020. Given the annual rate of losses,
and assuming no change, the company has enough
equity to cover 4 months of losses, which we describe
as the “headroom”.
UK Fintech Focus 25
Illustration of the Funding “Headroom” Calculation
15
10 -10.0
Insufficient equity
(£m)
15.0 to cover projected

losses beyond
about 4 months
5
5.0 -4.0
1.0
0
Share capital + Retained Equity Projected losses Equity
share premium earnings as of 31/12/18 to 31/03/20 as of 31/03/20
Analysis of the Funding “Headroom” for the Sample Companies
60%
53%
50%
% of Sample
40%
30%
23%
20%
9% 10%
10%
5%
0%
Already 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-18 months > 18 months
negative
Months of projected losses that can be covered by equity
26 UK Fintech Focus
Valuation
Trends
Across our sample the median Internal Only a few cases have a negative IRR due to failure
Rate of Return for first round investors is or down rounds. The majority are in the range 0% to
100%. However, there are some significant outliers
currently 71%, calculated by comparing the with very high IRRs on paper, for example:
price at which shares were issued in the
– Revolut and Monzo have both had funding rounds in
first round of investment to the price in
the past 12 months and achieved very high IRRs on
the latest round of investment. paper at 220% and 193% respectively, supported
by their success in gaining large numbers of
customers. Note that both these companies have
crowdfunding investors as well, providing a boost
to the perceived performance of that funding
mechanism.
– Of the Technology/Processing businesses which
have received funding recently, TrueLayer stands
out having achieved an IRR of 117% for its first
round investors. The valuation of this open banking
technology company has possibly benefited from
the success of the U.S. start-up Plaid, founded in
2012, which was acquired by Visa for US$5.3 billion
in January 2020.
– A total of four companies in the sample have
entered administration and down rounds have been
relatively rare. Only four companies had a down
round in their last funding round. Interestingly,
two of these companies executed a strategy pivot
moving from a B2C business model to a B2B
business model and time will tell if this has paid off.
We noted in last year’s report that IRRs decline as
companies get older and returns on paper for later
round investors are much smaller. Based on this
historical data, we predicted what the IRRs should
have been for the funding rounds in the past 12
months and found that they were somewhat lower
than expected. This can be seen in the following chart
which shows the actual and predicted IRRs for first
round investors in recent funding rounds. The result
was similar for both financial Services and technology/
processing businesses raising funds.
UK Fintech Focus 27
“
Investor priorities over much of
the first half of 2020 have been as
much about supporting existing
investments as they have about
sourcing new opportunities, with
a focus on ensuring investee
companies are “match-fit”
for the future.
For those continuing to invest
there has been a preference
for strong unit economics and
balance sheets. Valuations have
been impacted, however we
believe these are likely to rebound
”
in the second half of 2020.
Tim Levene
28 UK Fintech Focus
Distribution of IRRs First Round Investors
18%
16%
14%
12%
% of sample
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
5%
%
%
5%
%
%
5%
%
%
%
-50
-75
<0
25
50
-25
00
0-2
2
-10
1-2
1-1
>2
6-1
51
6-2
26
101
76
20
15
12
17
IRR for First Round Investors
Note: Excludes one case which emerged from administration and impact on investors unclear
IRRs for First Round Investors in Recent Funding Rounds
Financial services Technology/processing

100%
90%
80% 81%
80%
70%
62%
60%
60%
IRR
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Actual Predicted Actual Predicted
UK Fintech Focus 29
“
We need to refocus on unit economics as investors, not just profitable businesses.
The business case that supports these types of firms are miraculous if they make
sense but not as easy to fund. That is because heterogeneity is the rule of the day.
Therefore the whole valuation dialogue is a hot topic and becomes a discussion
about how the founder will take market share? This will become a more distinct
conversation now – as opposed to the last four years – particularly for the early
stage or late stage investor.
Linked to that, certain classes of fintech are getting stale as they age and investors
will be asking themselves about the exit opportunity in this space. Is it as big as
other technology companies outside of the fintech sector? Fintech could become an
awkward space as VC investors question returns and doing repeatable business. As
”
a result, some Ventures might chose to bootstrap or work more with CVCs.
Ruth Foxe Blader

Partner, Anthemis
30 UK Fintech Focus
The impact of COVID-19 on valuation
Where companies can raise funds from existing investors, In many cases, investors have participated in more than
it is possible that valuations will be maintained at least one round, so Round 4 investors may also have been
at the same level as the most recent round of funding. Round 2 or Round 3 investors etc. Hence, the net impact
Alternatively, a convertible loan structure may be used on their holdings will be a weighted average of these
as a more flexible option – a conversion valuation can figures.
be agreed but the loans could be repaid rather than
One investor group that may be more negatively affected
converted to equity if funds can be raised at a higher
by a down round than others is corporate investors.
valuation in the future.
Typically, across our sample, they have been investing
It will be more challenging if a business needs to find in Rounds 3 and 4, although there are some cases of
funds from new investors. We have illustrated the impact corporates investing in Rounds 1 and 2. Therefore, the
of a down round on the typical fintech in the charts impact of a down round on the IRR on paper for their
opposite. The median share price progression over the holdings could be more significant than for angels or for
first 4 rounds is shown, rising from an indexed level of venture capital investors.
100 to 500, around three years after the first funding
Even if valuations can be maintained, any new investors
round. A down round of 25 percent for Round 5 would
are likely to seek to build into the investment terms some
move the price back to an indexed level of 375, which
future downside protection in the event of another down
would still be above the price paid by investors at
round, or an exit at a price below the price at which they
Round 3.
invested.
The impact of this on the IRR for each set of investors is
shown in the other chart opposite which compares the
IRR at Round 4 to the new IRR at Round 5 with a 25%
lower share price:
– For Round 1 investors, the IRR will fall from 80%
to 38%
to 21%
to 2%
– For Round 4 investors, the IRR at this new round
will be -19%
“
The current Covid crisis has brought a somewhat abrupt response to the
“scale vs. economics” debate. As tech businesses have had to refocus on
resilience, reinforcing unit economics have become the absolute priority in the
boardroom. Growth for the sake of growth has been relegated to a secondary
position, under the tacit assumption that the crisis may reduce competition,
”
and that scale will be easier to build once the worst of the storm is over.
Manuel Silva
Partner and Head of Investments, Santander InnoVentures
UK Fintech Focus 31
Indexed Share Price at Successive Funding Rounds

Median share price in Rounds 1-4 and assuming a 25% share price reduction in Round 5
600
500
500
375
358
Share Price Indexed
400
300
203
200
100
100
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Days From First Funding Round
Impact of 25% Down Round on IRR for Investors
100%
80%
80%
61%
60%
45%
38%
40%
IRR
21%
20%
2% 0%
0%
-20%
-19%
-40%
R1 Investors R2 Investors R3 Investors R4 Investors
IRR At Round 4 IRR At Round 5
32 UK Fintech Focus
A Sector and Vertical

Comparison
We have already noted in other sections The key differences are:
of the report some differences between – The financial services sector data is skewed by
the financial services and technology/ some large companies which have raised significant
processing sectors within fintech. amounts at high valuations, hence the mean data
for the sector on these measures varies more than
Sometimes these are also referred to as
the median when compared to the technology/
B2C and B2B though some businesses processing sector.
have B2B2C models and some businesses
– This skewed distribution is also a factor when
have hybrid B2C and B2B models so there comparing the IRRs for first round investors as the
are a few grey areas. median figures for the two sectors are very similar,
but the mean is quite different. This indicates that
some of the financial services sector deals are
particularly highly valued.
– The number of employees per company is 50%
higher for the financial services businesses than
the technology/processing businesses, even on the
median measure which is perhaps not surprising.
Note that not all employees are based in the UK,
but most will be.
Overall, we see relatively little difference to date in
the median IRRs for financial services and technology/
Processing businesses. However, the Paytech vertical
(which includes a mixture of both) stands out from the
other verticals in having a high average IRR for first
round investors – a median of 98% and a mean of
133%. This vertical in our sample is made up of several
different types of business e.g.:
– International money transfers and remittances
– Payments cards
– Payments processing
– Open banking/payments infrastructure
UK Fintech Focus 33
In each of these sub-sectors of payments, valuations

have been supported by high public market valuations
and deal activity, such as the acquisition of WorldFirst
by Ant Financial and the acquisition of Plaid by Visa.
The largest financing transactions for our sample of
companies in the past 12 months highlights some
particular areas of investor interest:
– Sectors where significant progress has been made
in terms of customer numbers continue to be of
interest to investors, particularly in digital banking.
– Services building on the development of open
banking, such as at ClearBank and TrueLayer are
getting some traction supported by deal valuations
elsewhere.
– Sectors supported by underlying market growth
dynamics such as the growth in the gig-economy
and freelance workers.
Regtech is also a vertical worth mentioning. Typically,
these companies do not require as much funding as,
for example, digital banks and although only Privitar
features on our top 10 list, we noted earlier in the
report both Privitar and Onfido have announced very
large funding rounds in April 2020 (£50m and £80m
respectively. The median IRR for first round investors in
the Regtech companies in our sample has been 88%,
the second highest vertical behind Paytech.
34 UK Fintech Focus
A Comparison of Key Statistics by Sector
Per Company in the Sample Financial Services Technology/Processing
Mean Median Mean Median

Equity raised £69m £18m £22m £16m
Latest valuation £255m £40m £61m £41m
Number of funding rounds 5.5 5.0 4.2 4.0
Cumulative losses £24m £7m £11m £7m
IRR from first to latest round 104% 73% 83% 70%
Employees 139 49 50 33
10 Largest Fundraising Cases in the Sample in the 12 Months to 31/03/20
Company Vertical Amount Raised £m
Revolut Bankingtech 385

World Remit Paytech 137
Monzo Bankingtech 113
Starling Bankingtech 54
Atom Bank Bankingtech 50
Privitar Regtech 32
ClearBank Bankingtech 30
TrueLayer Paytech 27
Receipt Bank Other 25
Zego Insurtech 22
UK Fintech Focus 35
Some Observations from Financing Cases in the Past 12 Months
Vertical Observations
Bankingtech Large funding rounds for Revolut, Monzo, Starling, Atom and ClearBank
highlight interest in the sector and the need for significant investment.
Lendingtech Sonovate, which finances the payments to contractors by temp recruiters,
did not make it to the top 10 list but was the largest funding in the vertical.
Paytech Large funding round for World Remit in its 10th year of fundraising, and also
for TrueLayer with strong interest in open banking.
Insurtech Zego was the largest fund raiser within our sample demonstrating the
interest in services for freelancers / gig-economy workers.
Wealthtech SmartPension did not make it to the Top 10 list but raised another large round
with growing demand for B2B employee pension management services.
Regtech Privitar raised a large round for data privacy solutions which was followed by
another round announced in April 2020.
“
There are specific sectors and technologies that we think will strengthen
post-lockdown such as regtech, insuretech and wealth management,
with an increased emphasis on partnerships. In addition, demand for
cyber security and digital process automation will also ramp up.
London is a natural home for fintech due to its position as a global
financial centre alongside its deep technology talent pool, supportive
regulation and an early-adopting customer-base. These fundamental
strengths will continue to help fintech companies through the pandemic
and towards recovery. The city’s extensive investor network – including
a growing number from overseas – will also mean that London’s fintech
”
sector is well positioned for the recovery phase.
Dhaval Gore
Head of Financial, Business Services & Technology
London & Partners
36 UK Fintech Focus
Methodology and
Research Notes
The data for this report has been compiled Due to the private nature of many of these companies,
from regulatory filings at Companies the information contained within their annual financial
statements is not always consistent and often not
House in the UK. All limited companies are of the same level of disclosure as a company which
required to file annual financial statements is subject to various transparency disclosure and
(full or abridged), an annual statement of reporting standards such as the UK Code of Corporate
share capital and shareholdings, and details Governance.
of any share issues made. We have not The data which is submitted to Companies House is
sought to confirm the completeness and not necessarily consistent with what might be found in
accuracy of the information contained the media. Data included in our analysis is solely
from the statutory filings with Companies House
within the filings and it should be noted
unless stated otherwise and were extracted up to
that filings at Companies House are not 31 March 2020.
consistently subject to independent review
In some parts of the report we refer to averages (mean
or inspection. or median). These figures need to be taken in context,
depending on the measure. We think that for some
of the measures these averages can provide useful
insight but bear in mind there are always outliers.
Where we refer to valuation, this is the “on paper”
valuation which is recorded at each round of funding
based on the price at which shares are issued
to investors.
UK Fintech Focus 37
In some cases, it is not entirely clear what is a separate

funding round so we have used judgement where
necessary to define a funding round. In other cases,
the share issues for a round take place over several
months so we take the earliest issue date for that
round, or the date on which the majority of shares
were issued in that round.
The data has some limitations. For example, each
company will have share option plans which will likely
dilute the shareholdings of investors at different points
in time depending on performance. Share classes can
also have different terms which may favour some share
classes on exit or in the case of a down valuation. This
is too complex for us to model in the research, but we
believe that our general conclusions are still valid.
38 UK Fintech Focus
Acknowledgements:
Augmentum Fintech plc Santander InnoVentures
Augmentum invests in fast growing fintech Santander InnoVentures is Santander Group’s corporate
businesses that are disrupting the financial venture capital fund. It invests in fintech startups and
services sector. adjacent verticals to accelerate their growth, helping
entrepreneurs and their teams, and supporting them
Augmentum is the UK’s only publicly listed
with capital, scale and Santander’s expertise.
investment company focusing on the fintech sector
in the UK and wider Europe, giving businesses Since launching in 2014, InnoVentures has invested in
access to patient capital and support, unrestricted over 30 companies, making it one of the most active
by conventional fund timelines and giving public bank-backed fintech corporate ventures in the world.
markets investors access to a largely privately held
investment sector during its main period of growth.
Tech Nation
Their portfolio of 18 fintech companies includes
Tide, interactive investor, Onfido, BullionVault Tech Nation fuels the growth of game-changing
and Farewill. founders, leaders and scaling companies so they can
positively transform societies and economies, providing
them with the coaching, content and community
Anthemis
needed for their journey in designing the future.
Anthemis Group is a venture capital firm investing
Over the past five years, the programmes have
in retail banking and consumer finance, business
engaged with nearly 2,000 businesses and since the
and corporate banking, payments, wealth and
first Future Fifty cohort have generated more than
asset management, and capital markets, as well as
£65m GVA for the UK economy.
investment management and advisory services.
The group has a diversified portfolio of best-in-
Innovate Finance
class, high-growth, digitally native financial services
companies based around the world. Anthemis Innovate Finance an independent industry body
are thesis-driven investors and hold several that represents and advances the global fintech
vehicles in which they invest discretionary and community in the UK. Our mission is to accelerate
non-discretionary capital across a wide range of the UK’s leading role in the financial services sector
companies, from early stage to growth. by directly supporting the next generation
of technology-led innovators.
London & Partners Membership ranges from seed stage startups and
global financial institutions to investors, professional
London & Partners is London’s international trade,
services firms and global fintech hubs. All benefit
investment and promotion agency. Its purpose is to
from Innovate Finance’s unique position as the
support the Mayor’s priorities by promoting London
single point of access to promote policy and
as the best city in the world in which to invest, work,
regulation, talent and skills, business opportunity
study and visit. They do this by devising creative ways to
and growth, and investment capital.
promote London and to amplify the Mayor’s messages,
priorities and campaigns.
London & Partners is a not-for-profit public private
partnership, funded by the Mayor of London and a
network of commercial partners.
UK Fintech Focus 39
“
We expect to see increased rates of
M&A activity over the next twelve
months, with opportunistic and
strategic acquisitions sought both
by incumbents transitioning to more
digital offerings as well as by well-
funded challengers seeking scale.
The trend of technology companies
staying private for longer, a result
of the availability of capital and
attractive M&A opportunities
amongst other reasons, is likely to
be strengthened further in light of
”
public market volatility.
Tim Levene
Points of Contact
KPMG in the UK Google
Anton Ruddenklau Matthew Yeager

Global Co-Leader for Fintech Google Cloud - Digital Natives UKI
T: +44 (0) 7467 339 709 T: +44 (0)20 3820 8387
E: anton.ruddenklau@kpmg.co.uk E: mpyeager@google.com
Joe Cassidy
Partner & Head of Market Infrastructure
Author
T: +44 (0)20 7694 1525
E: joe.cassidy@kpmg.co.uk
Michael Pearson
Clarus Investments
T: +44 (0) 7901 670 899
Jeremy Welch
E: michael@clarusinvestments.com
Partner, Deal Advisory
T: +44 (0) 7969 251 040
E: jeremy.welch@kpmg.co.uk
Paddy Goodlet
UK Fintech M&A Lead, Corporate Finance
T: +44 (0) 7785 574 951
E: paddy.goodlet@kpmg.co.uk
Ed Boyle
Partner, Restructuring Partner
T: +44 (0) 7799 132 604
E: ed.boyle@kpmg.co.uk
Hannah Dobson
Partner, National Markets
T: +44 (0) 7798 694 970
E: hannah.dobson@kpmg.co.uk
kpmg.com/uk/fintechfocus
The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual
or entity. Although we endeavour to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is
accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information
without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.
© 2020 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms
affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
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Fintech

About Google Cloud

About the Author

Purpose of this Report

Fintech and the Impact of COVID-19 10

A Sector and Vertical Comparison 32

Methodology and Research Notes 36

1. Patient scaling capital must be found

2. Fintech market data requires significant maturing

Summary Statistics for the Sample

£5.3bn £18.7bn £1.7bn

Total equity raised Total valuation* Total cumulative losses

Per Company in the Sample Mean Median

Equity raised £53m £17m

Latest valuation £187m £42m

Number of funding rounds 4.8 5.0

Years since first funding round 5.2 4.8

IRR from first to latest round** 94% 71%

* Based on latest round of funding

Fintech and the

Potential Impact on the Financial Services Businesses in the Fintech Sector

Vertical Potential impact

These cases show what is possible, but they are

Companies Increasing Losses in Their Latest Financial Reports

Based on our sample, we have

of all companies of companies

iwoca Revenue and Cumulative Profit After Tax

Revenue Cumulative Profit After Tax

The impact of COVID-19 on performance

Ruth Foxe Blader

Indicative Impact on Profit After Tax for Two Sample Cases

PAT Revenue Cost of sales Staff costs Other costs PAT

CASE B: Established Fintech with £100m Revenue and Breaking Even

PAT Revenue Cost of sales Staff costs Other costs PAT

One of the features of the development of the sector

Profile of Funding Rounds in the 12 Months to 31/03/20

Proportion of Mean Price

Increase in round size 93% 131%

Median Days Between Funding Rounds

600 Funding Rounds in

The impact of COVID-19 on financing

Illustration of the Funding “Headroom” Calculation

15.0 to cover projected

Analysis of the Funding “Headroom” for the Sample Companies

Distribution of IRRs First Round Investors

IRR for First Round Investors

IRRs for First Round Investors in Recent Funding Rounds

Financial services Technology/processing

Ruth Foxe Blader

The impact of COVID-19 on valuation

Indexed Share Price at Successive Funding Rounds

Days From First Funding Round

Impact of 25% Down Round on IRR for Investors

IRR At Round 4 IRR At Round 5

A Sector and Vertical

In each of these sub-sectors of payments, valuations

A Comparison of Key Statistics by Sector

Per Company in the Sample Financial Services Technology/Processing

Mean Median Mean Median

10 Largest Fundraising Cases in the Sample in the 12 Months to 31/03/20