Investment boomed in the first quarter of 2021 with well over US $ 4bn raised , marking the fifth straight quarter that Europe has recorded an increase in venture capital invested . We chart the 10 largest European financings of Q1 2021 , from January 1 to March 31 , with half of the firms fintechs , and the majority London-based .

Rapyd API-based fintech-as-aservice platform Rapyd raised $ 300m in a Series D financing round led by Coatue , giving the startup a $ 2.5bn valuation , which it has since doubled to $ 5bn .

Wolt Starting in 2014 as a food delivery app with 10 restaurants in Helsinki , five years on Wolt has expanded to 23 countries and 120 cities , and into groceries and retail with an aim to take on Amazon .

Checkout . com New year , new funds for these two Londonbased fintechs . Payment solutions provider Checkout . com tripled its valuation to $ 15bn following a $ 450m Series C round led by Tiger Global , becoming EMEA ’ s most valuable venture-backed business . Checkout has since opened a NYC office , invested in Saudi fintech Tamara , and founder Guillaume Pousaz listed on Forbes 2021 Billionaire ’ s list .

LendInvest While the UK ’ s leading platform for property finance , LendInvest , secured $ 603.7m investment from JP Morgan to finance its buy-to-let product , having previously landed $ 241m from HSBC , food delivery firm Wolt closed its $ 530m Series G funding round led by Iconiq Growth , giving the Helsinki-based unicorn a total of $ 856m funds raised .

22 June 2021