A little-known payments start-up has raised Europe’s biggest ever early-stage funding round for a fintech company, after the blockbuster initial public offering of Dutch payments group Adyen whet investor appetite for the sector. Checkout.com, a seven-year-old London-based payments group, has raised $230 million from investors including Insight Partners and DST Global, making it one of the few European start-ups with a valuation of about $2 billion. Competitor Adyen has seen its share price soar 70 per cent, to €708, since it listed on Amsterdam’s Euronext exchange last June. Like Adyen, Checkout.com acts as a middleman between merchants and other payments companies, negotiating deals with businesses including Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, PayPal and UnionPay. It has attracted customers including Deliveroo, TransferWise and Samsung… Checkout.com reported $46.8 million in total revenues in 2017,… a 56 per cent increase on the previous year. Profits rose 61 per cent compared with the year before, to $23.9 million, with a gross profit margin of 51 per cent.

Jemima Kelly and Aliya Ram