Meet the billion dollar British businesses plotting global domination. While the UK has often been criticised for its failure to turn exciting early-stage, fast-growth companies into world beaters, its record is improving, with a string of companies hitting the big time over the past few months. Four high-tech companies this year alone have attracted investment that values them at $1bn or more, and others are waiting in the wings.
Funding Circle
Founded by three partners in 2010, Funding Circle announced this week that it has raised $150m in a funding round that takes its valuation to the magic $1bn mark. The latest finance raising was lead by Yuri Milner’s DST Global, which is best known as an early backer of companies including Facebook and Airbnb. Funding Circle is one of Britain’s biggest peer-to-peer finance companies and specialises in raising money for small businesses, which have struggled to pick up debt capital from mainstream banks since the financial crisis. It’s no longer just a domestic business, having expanded into the US last year – this fundraising will help it accelerate that expansion.
TransferWise
TransferWise is one of several British companies that sees huge potential in the international money transfer market, which has traditionally been dominated by large players such as
WorldRemit
Launched in 2010 by the Somali-born entrepreneur Ismail Ahmed, WorldRemit is another London-based money transfer company attracting a great deal of attention from international investors. These have included the likes of Accel Partners, which took part in a $100m fund raising earlier this year alongside Technology Crossover Ventures, the investor previously associated with both Facebook and
Shazam
Unlike the three businesses above, Shazam isn’t a fintech play. Rather, it produces an app that allows users to identify any music they hear on their radios, playing in shops, or anywhere else. The business has been going since 1999, but what started out originally as a clever gimmick for music fans has rapidly discovered an increasing number of commercial opportunities, with monetisation strategies now in place across the advertising and marketing industries, for example. Shazam has previously attracted investment from the Mexican billionaire Carlos Sliim, but earlier this year picked up another $30m which took its valuation to $1bn. Its app now has 100 million active users each month.