Checkout.com crowned UK’s most valuable fintech with $1bn raise

Payments firm Checkout.com has raised $1bn (£730m), giving it a $40bn (£29bn) valuation and crowning it the UK’s most valuable private fintech.

The London-headquartered firm said it will use the capital injection to fund growth in the US market and launch new marketplace solutions.

It also plans to “strengthen leadership in Web3” – a nascent version of the internet based on blockchain technology.

Checkout.com provides a payment services application programme interface (API) in more than 150 currencies. Its technology is used behind the scenes by merchants such as Netflix and Pizza Hut, along with fintech companies Klarna and Revolut.

Its full-stack software is also used by cryptocurrency firms such as Coinbase and Crypto.com and the company indicates it is betting on Web3 becoming a high-growth area.

“At our core, we help enterprise merchants to navigate the complexity of moving money around the world, whether in fiat currency or bridging the gap to Web3,” said Checkout.com founder and CEO, Guillaume Pousaz.

“By combining an elegant technology stack with industry expertise and an ‘extra-mile’ approach to service over the past decade, we’ve built deep partnerships with some of the world’s most innovative companies.”

The funding provides 40-year-old Pousaz with a paper fortune of about $20bn.

Primary investors in the Series D round were Altimeter, Dragoneer, Franklin Templeton, GIC, Insight Partners, the Qatar Investment Authority, Tiger Global, the Oxford Endowment Fund and a “large west coast mutual fund management firm”.

Some of the fintech’s previous backers also provided funds.

Checkout.com’s latest funding sees it more than double its valuation just one year after it raised $450m in a Series C round. It also means Checkout.com has leapfrogged client Revolut to become the most valuable UK fintech.

The company, which was founded in 2012, says it’s been profitable for “several years”. It has more than 1,700 staff across 19 offices globally. It has opened new offices in six countries over the past year.

Checkout.com’s latest funding round means the UK’s thriving fintech sector has begun the year where 2021 left off, with VC investment in UK fintech companies reaching a record $11.6bn.