Tide, Zego and Salary Finance among FT’s fastest-growing European companies in 2022

As we emerge from this period of economic turmoil, fintechs, and in particular UK fintechs, have seen remarkable growth.

The sector once again played a starring role in the Financial Times’ FT 1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies for 2022, with 18 UK fintechs making the list this year, up from 16 in 2021.

In total among the list are over 26 fintechs, down slightly from the 32 we saw in 2021, including insurtech Zego, the highest-ranked fintech at 14th on the list with revenue of €12.1m and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 276 per cent.

“The placement is a testament to all the successes our extremely talented team have achieved over the past few years,” Zego CEO Sten Saar told AltFi, pointing out that the achievement puts Zego in the top 1.5 per cent of the FT 1000.

“Right now we are continuing to make a success of our recent launch in the Netherlands and further expanding in France whilst continuing to develop our behavioural led fleet insurance products at pace."

Of the other UK fintechs making the list were SME banking service Tide (No.24, 2020 revenue of €16.1m, CAGR of 239 per cent), lender Salary Finance (No.48, 2020 revenue of €8.59m, CAGR of 181 per cent), payments provider Modulr (No.150, 2020 revenue of €12.7m, CAGR of 116 per cent) and digital banking service Monese (No.159, 2020 revenue of €18.1m, CAGR of 114 per cent).

Monese CEO and founder Norris Koppel told AltFi that the inclusion is “testament to the team’s hard work and drive” while Tide CEO Oliver Prill added that he was “delighted” at the news, saying that “having launched in early 2017, Tide has enjoyed consistent growth in its first 5 years of operation.”

“Tide's growth in market share has been accompanied by a move to grow and diversify revenue streams, successfully introducing products such as subscription plans, advanced invoicing products, payroll, credit services, payment acceptance services and expense cards.”

Across the continent, top fintech names to make the cut included Italian lender Credimi (No.31, 2020 revenue of €11.3m, CAGR of 209 per cent), German banking-as-a-service provider Solarisbank (No.63, 2020 revenue of €35.9m, CAGR of 161 per cent), and SME lender Creditshelf (No.515, 2020 revenue of €4.8m, CAGR of 59 per cent).

As with previous years, the overwhelming majority of companies on the FT 1000 list in 2022 are here for the first time, with just 306 having also appeared in last year’s ranking.

London remains the city with the greatest number of fast-growing companies on the list, 81, ahead of Paris (34) and Milan (33).

Bigger isn’t always better, however, as demonstrated by last year’s No.1 fastest-growing European company, Bulb Energy, the UK energy supplier that was placed into administration late last year.

The full FT 1000 ranking from the Financial Times and research firm Statista is available here.