Are you a Fintech startup looking for funding?
FINTECH Circle & SFC Capital are looking for the best Fintech startups in the UK for our SFC SEIS fund which will invest a minimum of £1.5 million into startups like yours…
We invite the best Fintech entrepreneurs to apply, who are looking for their first external fundraising of up to £150,000 in SEIS investments to help them grow their startup…
Fintech only
£150,000 per startup
Funding potential
Eligible for SEIS
Application Process to get funded
We have a strict process of reviewing new fintech startup investment opportunities.
Startup Evaluation
In Quarter 1 2022, we rate all startup applications (approx 100) against our proprietary methodology, selecting the top 40 applicants
Selection Days
The selected startups are invited to present in front of FINTECH Circle’s & SFC’s experienced Selection Panel where the top 50% are chosen
Due Diligence
For the selected startups, the
Due Diligence (D/D) phase will then commence during
March 2022
Investment
Once the Due Diligence phase is successfully completed & all legal docs signed, the investment will be in your bank account by first week of
April 2022
Application Criteria
• UK registered fintech startups incorporated since April 2020
• SEIS eligibility confirmed
• All financial and fintech sub-sectors including wealthtech, regtech, insurtech, paytech, legaltech, fintech solutions for investment banking and corporate banking, cybersecurity, green finance/fintech (ESG focused fintech), blockchain/DLT, digital assets, cryptocurrency etc
• Both B2C, B2B and platform based business models
• Experienced team of co-founders who identified a real pain point and have developed at least a minimum viable product
• We encourage female founders and founders with diverse backgrounds to apply
Application Deadline
•Deadline EXTENDED: 28th Feb 2022 (apply by this deadline if you would like to either apply to the fund or to the FINTECH Circle’s Angel Investor Network or to both)
• The application process is online on GUST
Timeline
- After the application deadline, your online application will be reviewed and ranked. Out of more than 100 expected applications, the best 40 startups will be invited to FINTECH Circle’s Selection Days, where you present to a Jury of investors.
- The Jury will then select the top 50% for potential inclusion in the SEIS Fund by Feb 2022, ie:- about 20 startups.
- If your company has been chosen, a detailed due diligence (DD) phase will commence during March 2022.
- Once the DD has successfully completed, all legal documents will be prepared, signed and the investment will be transferred into your bank account by the 1st week of April 2022.
Frequently Asked Questions
Click on any of the “Frequently Asked” questions below to reveal the answer…
As it is a SEIS fund, only startups who have been incorporated after April 2020 are eligible and the fund can invest up to £150,000 per startup. The fund can also co-invest with your other SEIS investors. The valuation of the company is set by the startup and will be reviewed as part of the Selection Process. There is no fixed rule in terms of size of the equity stake the fund will expect in return for its investment, as this depends on the stage of your company, its business and financial performance and its resulting valuation
Yes, the fundraising for the fund has been successfully completed and the fund's investors have requested that all investments will be fully deployed by the end of this tax year to benefit from UK's SEIS rules.
The fund has an overall portfolio of £20 million of which £1.5 million will be invested only in fintech startups. The maximum to be invested per company is £150K which means that we will invest in at least 10 fintech startups.
Unfortunately the fund is restricted to only invest into UK registered fintech companies, as the SEIS benefits do not apply for international companies who are registered abroad.
Yes, if you submit your application by the 15th of Feb, you will also be considered for the FINTECH Circle Angel Network where 70+ fintech angel investors meet to invest into the best fintech investment opportunities. You will also be part of the first round of Selection Days and if successful, your investment might already complete by Feb 2022.
FINTECH Circle will celebrate all portfolio companies on its website and share company profiles of each startup on its Insights blog here to reach our global community of more than 130,000 people across LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
Pls email info@fintechcircle.com if you have any other questions.
Our SEIS Funding Partner
Are you an investor?
Join Europe’s 1st Fintech focused Investor Network to invest alongside other private investors in a collaborative manner.
Successful applications will receive a FINTECH Circle membership.
What are the benefits of becoming a FINTECH Circle member?
Discounted rates with leading providers of services relevant to fintech startups and scaleups.
Access and contribution to thought leadership research and events.
Access to members only networking, educational and training events.
Discounted rates to FINTECH Circle events.
We regularly invite our entrepreneurs to speak at fintech and financial services conferences.
Benchmarking reports with other FINTECH Circle startup members.
Successfull exits of startups that received funding via FINTECH Circle.
Acquired by ComparetheMarket.com in October 2018.
Acquired by Santander in October 2018.
“FINTECH Circle was a great support from the start of our journey to our successful exit to Santander in just 3.5 years. They helped us with fundraising and through other key fintech initiatives.”
Did you know?
Many startups fail to receive the funding they deserve because they aren’t able to present their business in the best possible light to potential investors.
This isn’t just terrible news for startup owners, but also for investors and the rest of us (potentially profitable and world-changing ideas were never brought to fruition).
Download our top 10 tips for Startups to pitch to investors.
As part of our FINTECH Circle Angel Network we have selected several hundred fintech founders to present at our Selection days. We have seen great, average and bad pitches over the last 4 years. This document gives you valuable examples to help you learn from the best, summarized in our top 10 tips to maximise your fund raising success.
Ready to apply?
Have your investor presentation and business plan ready. Our goal is to help you grow and succeed. Let’s start.
