Europe accounted for 15% of new FinTech unicorns in 2021 with 22 representatives headquartered on the continent. UK companies lead the way with 13 new entries in the coveted club. The strong presence of UK companies stems from the high amount of established financial institutions which are targets for these services along the supportive regulatory environment. The UK also benefits from existing tech hubs such as the East London Tech City. FinTech has become the dominant sector for unicorns in Europe, with over 70 European unicorns in total across different sectors and nearly half of those are FinTech. The high number of unicorns could be due to FinTech companies favouring the private market as IPOs slump in 2021. Among the 18 US FinTech companies that conducted traditional IPOs or direct listings since January 2020, six were trading below their IPO price as of Aug. 31.
The data for this research was taken from the FinTech Global database. More in-depth data and analytics on investments and companies across all FinTech sectors and regions around the world are available to subscribers of FinTech Global. ©2021 FinTech Global
