In another win for the UK tech sector, which continues to show that this nation is a digital tech powerhouse, London fintech startup Yapily has closed £4.3 million in seed funding from King’s Cross-based venture capital firm Localglobe and HZ Holtzbrinck Ventures.
Other investors include Transferwise co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Ott Kaukver, and C-suite executives from Twilio and Unicredit.
Founded in mid 2017 by ex-Goldman Sachs employee Stefano Vaccino, Yapily offers an Open Banking-based API platform which provides a turnkey solution for fintechs and enterprises that want to connect to banks. To date, the Yapily API supports 35 of the biggest banks in Europe, both for data retrieval and payments initiation. This equates to 250 million bank accounts, the startup says. By the end of the year, Yapily aims to have connected to 536 banks, as more banks across Europe bring their open APIs online in order to adhere to the European Union Payment Services Directive (PSD2) legislation. In brief, the directive enables bank customers, both consumers and businesses, to use third-party providers to manage their finances.
Commenting on how it will use the funding, Yapily says this seed round will help the company expand its tech team, based in Shoreditch, and further develop the platform.
In 2018, the UK attracted £6.3 billion[1] in venture capital investment, as confidence in the UK tech sector grows and investors continue in their quest to find the next big tech company.
According to Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, the statistics identify the UK as “Europe’s undisputed tech hub”.
“The success is thanks to our unique combination of talent, location and language, alongside our business friendly environment, unrivalled access to capital and world-leading universities,” he says.
“We want to see the power of technology change people’s lives for the better.”
Beavis Morgan – Specialist business advisers to London’s tech sector
At Beavis Morgan, we work with a number of entrepreneurs and startups, helping them set up and run their businesses, whilst navigating the challenges and advising them on making the right decisions both now and for the future.
We also understand that, whether you’re a start-up or a well-established business, cash is king and managing its flow is crucial to your immediate and long-term success. That’s why our independent finance brokerage, BM Structured Finance, is readily available to assist startups source the right funding for their individual needs.
Research & Development (R&D) tax relief has also proved to be a major boost to British tech businesses and, with Brexit looming, it is more important than ever that companies seek ways to unlock cash from innovation to help fund research and development into the ongoing enhancement of existing products and services.
Does your business undertake research and development? If so, speak to us today to set the benefits in motion. Our proven methodology offers a painless approach towards obtaining R&D tax relief [2].
For more information about how we can help you and your entrepreneurial business, contact Steve Govey, Partner within our Beavis Morgan Entrepreneur Support Team, Simon Belton at BM Structured Finance or your usual Beavis Morgan Partner.
[1] Source: Tech Nation
[2] Research & Development Tax Relief – Recent wins for our clients: Spring 2019 update
