Wise Plc Among UK Fintech Delegation Heading to Saudi Arabia - Bloomberg
A delegation of business leaders from the UK’s financial technology community will head to Saudi Arabia this month as part of efforts to lure investment into British startups.
Executives from Wise Plc and venture capital firms Anthemis Group and Outward VC are among those expected to attend, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. They’ll meet with representatives from the Saudi Central Bank and the Public Investment Fund in Riyadh as part of the three-day mission, the documents show.
Investment in the UK’s fintech sector has dried up in recent years as higher interest rates, inflation and declines in valuations curbed appetite. Total investment in the sector plummeted to $5.1 billion in 2023, a 65% decline from a year earlier, according to Innovate Finance.
Meanwhile investment in Saudi’s startup market has been heating up. Tamara, a buy-now-pay-later startup, was valued at over $1 billion after raising $340 million in December. Tabby, another Saudi-based fintech company, hit a $1.5 billion valuation in its own fundraising.
This month’s event will be led by the Saudi British Joint Business Council (SBJBC) and is set to include two dozen fintech executives, partners, and investors. The aim of the event, which is also backed by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, is to support “knowledge exchange between the UK and Saudi fintech ecosystem,” according to a statement online.
The first UK fintech mission went to Riyadh in 2022, and a handful of British firms have received funding from the kingdom. Wahed, an online investing platform, raised around $50 million in a funding round led by the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center.
No comments:
Post a Comment