While we have been investing into European FinTech* startups from the outset — and established a physical presence in the region two years ago, we took the opportunity this year to dig deeper into the region’s Enterprise FinTech scene. (* includes InsurTech, Cybersecurity and Digital Health)
We invited FinTech founders to a joint breakfast event with Holland FinTech at TNW Amsterdam to understand where they are in their journey, and what are their top questions and challenges around scaling up, sales & go-to-market, US market entry, and funding as a B2B / Enterprise FinTech startup.
At the Startup Booster stage at Finovate Europe (Feb. 2020 in Berlin — the last major event we attended in flesh and blood this year!), we presented our initial analysis of ca. 30 venture-backed European FinTech firms’ journey to scale.
We got some great feedback and interest from founders who struggle to understand where they are on their path to scale, be it go-to-market, sales & BD or financing, but would like to learn from those who have “been there and done it” — and decided to double down on our analysis in the last couple of months.
Starting a couple of months ago with a list of nearly 700 FinTech firms headquartered in Europe that have raised Series A, B, or later rounds in the last five years, we whittled down the list to ca. 70 Enterprise FinTech players (B2B or B2B2C) that are selling into financial institutions.
We are mapping (mainly based on external research) when they were founded, where they are located, their team size, how much venture financing they raised and when, if and when they brought on dedicated sales leadership, if and when they entered the US market etc.
We will be publishing key results from our analysis as part of Scaling Enterprise FinTech, an initiative we launched together with Frankfurt-based FinTech Forum. The completed analysis will be included in the inaugural Scaling Enterprise FinTech- a Handbook, comprising interviews with leading founders, investors and financial institutions behind Europe’s Enterprise FinTech scale-ups, launching in time for Finovate Europe 2021.
We are pleased to share initial findings from our research (subject to changes):
- Of the ca. 70 firms (Enterprise FinTech firms that have raised a Series A round or later), over a third of the companies have a US presence.
- The majority entered the US market between Year 3–6 since founding.
- Nearly two-thirds of the ca. 70 firms brought on dedicated sales leadership in Year 3–5 since founding.
- Nearly half of the firms are based in the UK, with Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden and The Netherlands among other key hubs.
- Nearly a third of the firms have scaled to over 100 staff.
If you have any questions or would like to get involved, get in touch with our EMEA Lead, Samarth Shekhar.
