• Modulr

  Led · Grant · Aug 2019

  Modulr provides an embedded payments FinOps hub and APIs that let businesses and software platforms integrate real-time, account-to-account, and Open Banking payment services. The company serves 200+ clients and is processing an annualised transaction value of more than £100B. Modulr is authorised as an Electronic Money Institution by the UK’s FCA, the Central Bank of Ireland, and the Dutch Central Bank, and operates offices in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Amsterdam with more than 300 colleagues. Founded in 2016 by Myles Stephenson, its customers include Revolut, Wagestream, Sage, and BrightPay. Modulr plans to use new capital to accelerate geographic expansion across the UK and Europe, extend client and partner coverage, and further automate real-time embedded payments and broaden its product suite. Modulr provides a full‑stack Payments-as-a-Service API that lets software platforms and digital businesses automate and embed payments while handling regulatory and operational complexity. The company focuses on B2B payments digitization and has signed several large enterprise clients. Modulr is a directly connected participant in the Bacs and Faster Payments schemes and can settle and hold funds at the Bank of England; it has also added direct access to Visa and Mastercard. Recent product additions include Payment Initiation and Confirmation of Payee, and the company says it handles much of the regulatory overhead for its customers. Modulr was granted an electronic money licence from the Central Bank of Ireland as part of its European ambitions. The firm has cited a “breakout year” with growth despite COVID‑19 headwinds and was ranked the second fastest‑growing tech company in 2021 by Dun & Bradstreet. Modulr provides a Payments-as-a-Service API that lets digital businesses and software platforms embed payments, automate payment flows, and build new payment products within their customer journeys. The company serves sectors including lending, banking, fintech, travel, employment services and accounting, and counts customers such as Sage, Revolut, and Paxport. Modulr says it processes more than £40B of payments through its platform and maintains 99.999% uptime. Recent regulatory and infrastructure milestones include an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Central Bank of Ireland and direct participation in the Bacs and Faster Payments schemes, enabling settlement and custody at the Bank of England. The firm plans to use new funding to develop additional products, grow its team, and expand its customer base. Modulr operates from offices in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Modulr provides a Payments-as-a-Service platform that combines technology, regulatory permissions and direct access to payment schemes as an alternative to commercial and wholesale transaction banking. The company offers an API-driven payments infrastructure that enables businesses to automate payment flows, reconciliation and embed payment services within their platforms. Modulr has direct access to the U.K. payment schemes Faster Payments and Bacs, and is a principal issuing member of Visa. Its platform has processed over £25 billion in payments and counts customers such as Revolut, Sage, Liberis, Salary Finance and Iwoca. The company plans to use new capital to further develop its payments platform, build new products and expand into European markets. Financially, Modulr has raised just over £43 million to date (excluding a £10 million grant from the Capability and Innovation Fund) and recently secured additional growth funding. Modulr offers digital payments and banking alternatives to businesses and partners, processing more than £14 billion of transactions and reaching over 35,000 SMEs through clients including Sage and Revolut. The company is developing a new product, the Accountant Payments Control Centre (APCC), to deliver greater control, automation and efficiency for accountants and SME clients. Modulr will use a £10 million Capability and Innovation Fund grant (which it will match with a further £10 million) to expand its Edinburgh operations and support product development. The award is expected to create more than 50 jobs in Edinburgh and more than 64 regional roles overall, with at least 80% of the new roles scaling its Edinburgh presence. In May the firm secured a £14 million funding package, taking total capital raised to £24.5 million. Launched in January 2016, Modulr has footprint in Edinburgh, London and Dublin and plans to make its payment services available to almost one million SMEs while driving cost-effective innovation and competition in the UK business payments market.

• Starling

  Led · Grant · Feb 2019

  Starling is a UK-based digital bank offering personal, business, joint, children’s, euro and dollar current accounts alongside a range of lending products. It provides B2B banking and payments via a Banking-as-a-Service model built on its proprietary technology platform, and an in-app Starling Marketplace for third-party financial services. Founded in 2014 and based in London with offices in Southampton, Cardiff and Dublin, Starling claims over 2 million current accounts, including 350,000 business accounts. Its deposit base has grown from approximately £1 billion just over a year ago to more than £6 billion, and it says it holds a 6% share of the UK SME banking market. Management says the bank is on course to report its first full year in profit by the end of its next financial year-end. The company plans to use new funding to support continued rapid—and described as now profitable—growth, expand lending in the UK, pursue European expansion and anticipated M&A. Starling provides digital banking services, including checking, deposits and other consumer and business banking products delivered via mobile and online platforms. The bank reported revenue of £12 million in January, a 400% year-over-year increase, with an annualized revenue run rate of £145 million. Starling is already profitable, posting operating profits for a fourth consecutive month and net income exceeding £1.5 million per month. The company has opened over 2 million accounts, including 300,000 business accounts; gross lending has passed £2 billion and deposits stand at £5.4 billion. Starling said it will use the new funding to expand its lending operations in the U.K., move into other parts of Europe and pursue strategic acquisitions. The bank was founded in 2017 and competes with incumbent banks as well as other challengers such as Monzo, Revolut, Tide, Atom and Monese. Starling was launched in 2014 by a former Allied Irish Banks COO and is based in London, with offices in Southampton, Cardiff and Dublin. Its mobile app provides personal, business, joint and euro current accounts on Android and iOS and a marketplace giving customers in-app access to third-party financial services. The bank also offers B2B banking and payments services and is fully licensed and regulated. Starling has almost £500 million of SME lending on its balance sheet, with further commitments raising the total to nearly £1 billion. It serves more than 1.4 million current accounts, including 155,000 business accounts, and holds more than £2.4 billion in customer deposits. Since launch the company has raised significant capital to support its operations. Starling Bank is a London-based digital bank that operates personal and business current accounts, a marketplace, payment services for banks and e-money institutions, and Banking-as-a-Service. Founded in 2014 and licensed in 2016, it launched its mobile banking app in May 2017 and has opened 500,000 current accounts, including more than 30,000 SME business accounts in less than a year. The bank says it will invest €109 million of its own money and create 398 new UK jobs as part of the initiative funded by the grant. With the €115 million award from the Capability and Innovation Fund, Starling plans to make €1 billion in lending available to SME customers by the end of 2023 and to launch a web portal for SME banking later this year. Management expects to achieve a 6.7% market share within five years; the grant is intended to accelerate investment in proprietary technology and expand UK-based customer service and support.

• Tide

  Led · Grant · Feb 2019

  Founded in 2015, Tide delivers an integrated financial ecosystem that lets small and medium-sized enterprises open business accounts, make payments, raise invoices, sync with accounting software and access credit products from one app. The company also supports company formation and ongoing compliance, positioning itself as a full-service operating system for businesses. Tide employs 1,395 people (December 2023) and focuses on automating back-office tasks to reduce administrative friction for its customers. To date it has raised $181 million across equity and debt, giving the firm a £958 million valuation as of September 2025. With fresh capital, management plans to deepen SME lending capabilities, accelerate international expansion and broaden its embedded finance offerings. The platform’s future roadmap includes scaling customer acquisition and investing further in technology infrastructure to support profitable growth.

No current team members are available.