Fintechs are arguably one of the most dynamic and exciting areas of technology. The fast-changing nature of consumer behaviour, the rapid evolution of finance technologies, cybersecurity threats and government and industry regulation are just some of the factors that contribute to this innovative industry that keeps both staff and employers on their toes.

If you’re seeking inspiration for your business, we’ve found several up-and-coming UK fintech companies worthy of an introduction…

Thought Machine

Thought Machine builds the Vault platform: cloud-native core banking and payments technology. It is on a mission to create technology that can run the world’s banks according to the best designs and software practices of the modern age. In doing so, it’s planning to permanently rid the world’s banks of the problems generated by poor technology running on legacy infrastructure.

So far, the London-headquartered company has built a cloud-native, microservices and API-based platform called Vault Core: a complete core banking platform which is capable of being configured easily to suit the needs of any bank. Placing a lot of emphasis on their culture of engineering excellence, they’re determined to engineer a seismic shift in the banking industry.

Last month, it was reported that Thought Machine, which was mostly recently valued as a $3 billion unicorn, was sounding out bankers about floating on the stock exchange. 

Thought Machine is currently recruiting for a couple of positions in Singapore.

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Allica Bank

Allica Bank is the fastest-growing UK fintech in history, according to Deloitte.

Allica is focused on serving established and ambitious mid-sized SMEs – typically with 10 to 250 staff. These businesses represent over 30 per cent of all UK jobs and GDP but are underserved by traditional banks, while other neo-banks, such as Monzo, focus on micro businesses and consumers.

Milton Keynes-based Allica, lent £1.4 billion to small businesses last year and has plans to triple that by next year. Given that it only launched in March 2020, the bank even turned a profit last year – which is unusual in the cash-intensive fintech sector, which burns cash fast.

Its aim is to gain a 10 per cent market share in the next five years.

10X Banking

10x Banking (10x) is another London-based tech company building better banks with its next-generation, cloud native SaaS platform, SuperCore.

A transformational approach to data management, APIs, and a design architecture which is secure, scalable and regulatory compliant means 10x supports banks move from being product first, offering mortgages, credit cards and current accounts, rather than actually engaging with the needs of its customers. 10X creates a single customer record.

Founded in 2016 by former Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins, 10x was valued at about £600 million in 2021 when it raised £150 million. Other investors include JP Morgan and Australian bank Westpac. Institutions BlackRock and the Canada Pension Plan saw the opportunities in its business model.

Jenkins told The Times earlier this year that he wants to take the business from having a handful of clients now to somewhere between 15 and 20 clients by the end of 2025.

GoCardless

GoCardless aims to “take the pain out of getting paid” for businesses that receive automatic, repeating payments from customers. Each year, GoCardless processes more than $35 billion of payments across more than 30 countries. The Alphabet-backed company’s software integrates with the applications that businesses use, giving them more visibility over payments and saving time on tasks such as payment reconciliation.

It has deals with more than 300 billing and subscription software partners globally, including QuickBooks, Sage and Salesforce.

Its services are used by 76,000 businesses including TripAdvisor and DocuSign, and it employs 850 people. In February 2022, GoCardless announced a Series G funding round of £254m ($312m), making it the latest European and UK tech unicorn with a valuation of £1.7bn ($2.1bn).

Teya

Teya is a payments services provider, led by Brazilian chief executive Eduardo Pontes, serving small and medium-sized businesses with payment acceptance, inventory and order management and customer loyalty products.

Founded in 2019, its goal is to create affordable, fast and secure payment solutions which can help over 300,000 SMEs manage and grow their operations better.

Where Stripe, Adyen and Square have built a modern payment stack from scratch, London-based Teya is doing the same through buying the individual pieces as separate business acquisitions.

But it’s not just payments. Teya offers a bundled fintech solution for small businesses, including cash advances, a digital loyalty platform, website builder, advanced electronic point-of-sale (ePOS) system and merchant account features.

If you’re interested in exploring more open roles in the fintech space, discover even more job opportunities over on the GrowthBusiness job board.

Rosaleen McMeel is the director of publishing at our job board partner, Jobbio, and is based in Dublin

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