A London-based online payments company has become Britain’s most valuable private fintech business after its latest fundraising valued it at $40bn (

Checkout.com becomes UK’s most valuable fintech at $40bn

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2022-01-13 10:30:04

A London-based online payments company has become Britain’s most valuable private fintech business after its latest fundraising valued it at $40bn (£29bn), handing its surf-loving founder a paper fortune of around $20bn.

Checkout.com, which simplifies payment processes for businesses, achieved the valuation following a $1bn investment that puts the stake of its 40-year-old chief executive, Guillaume Pousaz, at around $20bn. Pousaz, a Swiss national, dropped out of university in 2005 when his father became ill with cancer and he then moved to California to pursue his love of surfing. It was only after running out of cash that he took up a job with International Payment Consultants, a payments processing firm, in 2006.

“I didn’t choose payments — payments chose me,” Pousaz told the Sunday Times in 2020. “I only took that job so I could go surfing.” A year after joining IPC, Pousaz left to launch his first startup. He founded Checkout.com in 2012.

Fintech, a catch-all term for financial services firms operating in the digital sphere, has become a key driver of the UK’s success as a tech investment hub, featuring companies such as Revolut and Wise.

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