The Fintech sector in Europe continues to boom, driven by a motley group of angel investors who invest their private wealth into upcoming, unproven startups. According to Dealroom, angel investors injected more than €612 million into European Fintech companies in 2019, with 17 angels partaking per seed round on average. Meanwhile, the European Business Angel network estimated that the Fintech sector made up 16% of all European angel investment in 2018.
Angel investors may not be the source of billions in growth capital, but angel funding is far more generally distributed and arguably the most crucial kind of venture capital for startups. Using data gathered from Fintech50, AngelList, and CrunchBase, here’s a compiled list of the Fintech angels in Europe at the top of their game.
Chris Adelsbach
Chris Adelsbach is a UK-based entrepreneur, angel investor, and business mentor with over 20 years of financial service experience. Chris is a Venture Partner at Techstars, Managing Partner of Outrun Ventures, and was crowned 2018/2019 angel investor of the year by the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA), having backed over 100 companies, many of them now notable. He was once a co-founder at Marlin Financial Group, which featured for five years as one of the fastest-rising privately-held companies in the UK before the founding team exited to a NASDAQ-listed entity.
Highlights
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: 60
Total number of investments: 125
Taavet Hinrikus
Taavet Hinrikus is a co-founder and CEO of the world-renowned Fintech giant, TransferWise. Before starting TransferWise, Taavet was the director of strategy at Skype until 2008, starting as it’s first-ever employee. One of the World Economic Forum’s Tech Pioneers, Taavet, is an adviser to the Prime Minister of Estonia on the digital agenda. Taavet is also an angel investor and mentor; his investments include Improbable, Tweetdeck, Mendeley, OMGPOP, Property Partner, Sunrise, and Mapillary.
Highlights
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: 48
Total number of investments: 60
Charlie Songhurst
Charlie Songhurst is a founding partner of Katana Capital, a long-short equity hedge fund. Although currently based in the U.S., Charlie is a big-time investor in European Fintech. He also manages the Songhurst Group, which owns assets in various private companies. Charlie handled corporate strategy for Microsoft with a focus on partnering and M&A. He was also involved in the Yahoo acquisition and commercial deal and the Skype acquisition. Before managing corporate strategy, Charlie was focused on Google’s emergence and the growth of the search industry. Prior, Charles was an analyst at McKinsey & Company in London. Charles obtained a bachelor’s degree from Oxford University in philosophy, politics, and economics.
Highlights
Location: Greater Seattle Area, Washington, United States
Number of portfolio companies: 125
Total number of investments: 128
Tom Stafford
Tom Stafford is Managing Partner at DST Global, an internet-focused investment firm backing global Fintech unicorns like Robinhood and Chime. For four years now, Stafford has been effective in the firm’s global Fintech investment strategy, supporting companies like Klarna, Nubank, and Revolut. Born and educated in Ireland, Stafford started his career at Goldman Sachs. As an angel investor, he has financed several Fintech companies and mobility startups like Citymapper and TravelPerk.
Highlights
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: 16
Total number of investments: 40
Perry Blacher
Perry Blacher is a veteran Fintech investor focusing on growth-stage businesses in emerging markets, particularly in Fintech, education, and e-commerce. Based in London, UK, he is a Venture Partner at Amadeus with 20 years of experience developing and investing in online businesses. He has built and sold two companies of his own, one in online healthcare (Serum) and one in financial services (Covestor). Also, Perry has held business development positions at Microsoft and was a founding principal at Chase Episode 1 Partners, the $150 million early-stage European venture capital arm of Chase Capital Partners. He started his executive career in London at McKinsey & Company.
Highlights
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: 1
Total number of investments: 4
Baroness Denise Kingsmill
Baroness Denise Kingsmill was Monzo’s founding chair, earning her a position in their cap table. She also owns shares in Starling Bank, where the Monzo co-founders were executives before departing to start their bank after six months. She was once deputy chair of the UK Competition Commission (CMA) and later secured her spot in the UK House of Lords.
Denise Kingsmill was born in Rotorua (New Zealand). Her career has encircled periods as a top lawyer in London and as a non-executive director in the boards of private, public, arts, charitable, and UK government councils. After an early profession in the textile and fashion industry, Denise Kingsmill became one of London’s top lawyers managing disputes for some of the UK’s leading FTSE firms.
Highlights
Location: United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: N/A
Total number of investments: N/A
Tanya Blacher
Tanya Blacher is not originally a Fintech native, having instead had a career in marketing and TV, managing projects like the X-Factor. She later became interested in Fintech investments, having backed several top companies with her husband, Perry. Tanya is currently based in Cape Town, where she is an angel investor and a digital marketing strategist. In the 2020 FinTech50, she has invested in Farewill and Railsbank.
Highlights
Location: City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Number of portfolio companies: N/A
Total number of investments: N/A
Tim Jackson
Tim Jackson is a General Partner at Lean Investments, LLC. He founded QXL.com in September 1997 and served as the company’s CEO until May 1999. After raising US $15 million in venture capital and growing the business to $12 million in annualized sales in 20 months, Tim Jackson was recruited as the company’s new CEO in May 1999 to head QXL.com’s executive staff. Before QXL.com, he worked on the staff of The Economist Magazine and the Independent newspaper, where his duties included working as a technology editor, business correspondent, editorial writer, and correspondent and bureau chief in Tokyo and Brussels. Tim Jackson also served as a Managing Director at The Carlyle Group.
Highlights
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: 12
Total number of investments: 15
Ben Tompkins
Ben Tompkins is known for his prior position as Managing Partner at Draper Esprit, an active investor in European startups, during a period when it invested in UIPath, N26, Trustpilot, Graphcore, Revolut, and Aircall. Ben has since shifted back into investment banking as Managing Director at Stifel Financial Corp.’s Global Technology Group, where he advises software corporations that serve financial services businesses, among other areas. In addition to his career as a professional venture capitalist and investment banker, he has been an active angel investor. Although Tompkins’ angel activities are less focused on pure fintech, still, professional expertise transfers over to his personal investing.
Highlights
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: N/A
Total number of investments: N/A
Yoma James Kukor
Yoma James Kukor is an angel investor with a proven history of investing in technology firms primarily focused on Fintech, Clean-tech, and Enterprise. Yoma is a regular panelist and keynote speaker at notable industry events such as Fintech Live and StartupGrind Europe. Yoma holds a Venture Finance certificate from the University of Oxford and holds a MA in International Business from the University of Greenwich.
Highlights
Location: London, England, United Kingdom
Number of portfolio companies: N/A
Total number of investments: N/A
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