British Patient Capital comments on the one-year anniversary of the launch of The Kalifa Review

The launch of the Kalifa Review in February last year was an important milestone in the development of the UK’s fintech sector, acknowledging both the important role the sector is playing in the economy and ensuring the UK can retain its position as the fintech capital of Europe. Over the past year, we have seen considerable market activity with phenomenal levels of investment. In our own underlying portfolio, we saw banking software developer Thought Machine and insurtech business Zego become unicorns in 2021, and digital bank Revolut became a decacorn when it was valued at $3 billion in a funding round in July. By any measure, it has been an exceptional time for UK fintech. But structural issues remain. While funding nearly doubled in 2021, the majority of private market capital continues to come from outside the country, with UK institutional investors in particular being reticent when it comes to investing in domestic innovation. By not investing in UK venture and venture growth funds, UK institutional investors are failing to capture the value being created by fast-growing businesses operating in some of the most exciting and dynamic sectors in the economy. The UK has a history of innovation in the finance sector, and many of our current generation of home-grown start-ups and scale-ups are poised to become global leaders in financial services. Yet, in order to do so, access to capital is crucial. As the largest domestic LP investor in UK venture and venture growth funds, we have deployed over £1.3 billion since our inception in 2018, and while we are sector agnostic, a significant portion of our underlying portfolio companies are in the fintech space. By taking a long-term patient capital approach, institutional investors can fuel the growth of the UK’s most promising and innovative fintech companies, capture the value they create, and help ambitious entrepreneurs on their growth journey.