About Firestartr
Firestartr is a venture capital firm founded in 2012. It is primarily based out of London, United Kingdom. As of Feb 2022, Firestartr has invested in 58 companies. It primarily invests in Seed round in United Kingdom based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to Consumer and FinTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series A round of Banked Overall, Firestartr portfolio has seen 1 IPO and 22 acquisitions including key companies like Coins.ph, Wise and Stream. A lot of funds co-invest with Firestartr, with names like London Co-Investment Fund sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Firestartr has team of 4 people including 1 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 1 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Soonicorns
Firestartr's List of Top Investments
Firestartr has a portfolio of 58 companies. Their most notable investments are in Cronofy and Stream.Their portfolio spans across United Kingdom, United States, India and 9 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Consumer, FinTech and 20 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Firestartr:1. Coins.ph
Coins.ph is a digital wallet for Bitcoin assets. Allows users to transfer cash, bill payments, and phone recharge. It enables merchants to accept payments for multiple goods and services. It also facilitates buying and selling of Bitcoins.
Key facts about Coins.ph
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Pasig (Philippines)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $40M
- Employee Count: 414 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Ribbit Capital, Innovation Endeavors and 16 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, May 19, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
2. Wise
Provider of international money transfer and multi-currency. It offers secure, transparent, and cost-efficient cross-border payment solutions. It provides personal accounts, business accounts, multi-currency cards, and platform APIs that enable individuals, companies, and financial institutions to send, receive, hold, and convert money globally.
Key facts about Wise
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: Shoreditch (United Kingdom)
- Annual Revenue: £1B+ as on Mar 31, 2025
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $397M
- Employee Count: 11,760 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Glynn Capital, Galtymore Partners and 107 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Venture Debt, May 19, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Public
3. Stream
Workplace financial wellbeing platform that provides employees with tools to access earned wages. It offers a suite of tools that help users earn, access, save, spend, and plan their money in one unified mobile application. It includes features such as on-demand access to earned wages, budgeting and spending insights, savings products, financial coaching, and access to loans and pension consolidation tools. It also provides discounts and rewards to help reduce the cost of living and improve day-to-day financial resilience.
Key facts about Stream
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $228M
- Employee Count: 338 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Northzone, Citi and 54 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Jan 20, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
4. Citymapper
Citymapper offers an app-based platform offering route planning & transit information for commuters. The platform offers multi-modal route planning and real-time transit information (bus, rail, tram/metro, etc) for commuters. Also, users can compare cab fares, hail taxi, or shared bike on the platform. It offers a smart travel card where users can get access to multimodal mobility. It offers features like real-time notifications, open data, etc. The mobile app is available for both Android and iOS platforms.
Key facts about Citymapper
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $60M
- Employee Count: 50 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Benchmark, Dust Road Ventures and 11 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, May 14, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
5. Chain
Blockchain solutions empowering businesses to thrive in the Web3 era. We provide leading blockchain software solutions to bring businesses into the new era of technology. Our suite of Web3 software services are essential for modern businesses. Sequence provides a fully customizable and immutable ledger to balance business transactions, while streamlining ledger management. Chain Cloud enables organic brand refinement and growth with real-time analytics and maintains the selected blockchain network of your choice. Chain NFTs offers a comprehensive one-on-one NFT consulting service, tailored to meet the needs of any NFT project. We build cryptographic ledgers and cloud infrastructure that underpin transformative financial products and Web3 services. We strive to create a truly connected economy that benefits our partners and clients. We offer blockchain technologies to market. We use blockchain technology to send funds swiftly and securely to those in need.
Key facts about Chain
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $39.5M
- Investors: 2020 Ventures, Visa and 26 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Sep 09, 2015, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
Firestartr's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Firestartr has invested in 58 companies over the last 14 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Banked and most recent follow-on round was in Railsr.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2021 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2020 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2018 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2017 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Firestartr's Investments by Stage
Firestartr has made 16 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2.01M, 7 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $10.8M and 1 investment in Unattributed stage with an average round size of $850K.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 16 |
Series A | 7 |
Unattributed | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Firestartr's Investments by Sector
Firestartr has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Consumer, Enterprise Applications, FinTech, Retail and EdTech. Notably, it has invested in 52 Tech companies, 31 Consumer (B2C) companies, 31 Enterprise (B2B) companies and at least 25 companies focusing on Software.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Consumer | 9 |
Enterprise Applications | 7 |
FinTech | 6 |
Retail | 5 |
EdTech | 3 |
Others | 22 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Firestartr's Investments by Geography
Firestartr has made most investments in United Kingdom (14), followed by United States where it has made 5 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | 14 |
United States | 5 |
Sweden | 2 |
Germany | 1 |
Greece | 1 |
Others | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Firestartr's recent investments
Firestartr has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Firestartr:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Feb 14, 2022 | United States | Series A | 5849 | [+10] | |
Oct 21, 2021 | India | Seed | 1182 | [+9] | |
Oct 08, 2021 | Germany | Series A | 2444 | [+20] | |
May 04, 2021 | United Kingdom | Seed | 3509 | [+8] | |
May 03, 2021 | United States | Series A | 4308 | [+2] |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Firestartr's Portfolio
1 of Firestartr's portfolio company became public - Wise. It got listed on the OTC Markets (OTCMKTS), in Jul 2021 at marketcap of undefinedHere are Firestartr's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 09, 2021 | - | - | 6237 |
Acquired companies in Firestartr's Portfolio
22 companies from Firestartr's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Banked in May 2026 by National Australia Bank for $*****.Here are Firestartr's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
May 14, 2026 | Feb 14, 2022 | Series A | 8626 | |
Feb 13, 2026 | - | - | 4899 | |
Apr 05, 2025 | - | - | 9210 | |
Jan 15, 2025 | Jun 01, 2017 | Seed | 1169 | |
Mar 16, 2023 | - | - | 8812 |
Team profile of Firestartr
Firestartr has a team of 4 members including 1 Partner and 2 Principals located in Germany and Switzerland. Firestartr's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in Firestartr:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Bern | - | ||
Principal | Berlin | - | - | |
Principal | Hamburg | - | - |
Co-investors of Firestartr
Over the past 14 years, 248 investors have co-invested in Firestartr's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Firestartr: Seedcamp, Techstars and 56 others have invested in rounds before Firestartr. There are 4 companies where Seedcamp has invested before Firestartr and 2 companies where Techstars has invested before Firestartr.
- Top Co-investors of Firestartr: 111 investors entered a company along with Firestartr. These include investors like London Co-Investment Fund (3 companies).
- Invested after Firestartr: A total of 79 investors have invested in Firestartr's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Citi (2 companies), Sofina (1 company) and Ascension Ventures (1 company).
Recent News related to Firestartr
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London Fintech Banked to Focus on US Expansion After Securing Fresh Capital from Bank of America, OthersCrowdfund Insider•Feb 16, 2022•Bank of America, Edenred Capital, ACrew, Force Over Mass and 10 others
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Gr4vy Raises $11.1M Series A Funding RoundFinSMEs•May 03, 2021•GR4VY, Firestartr, Global Founders Capital, Activant Capital and 1 other
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Railsbank Rocks The Banking-As-A-Service Sector With Big US PlansForbes•Dec 10, 2020•MiddleGame Ventures, Ventura Capital, Anthos Capital, Global Brain and 5 others
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Railsbank, the Banking-as-a-Service, raises $37M in growth fundingTechCrunch+•Nov 12, 2020•MiddleGame Ventures, Ventura Capital, Anthos Capital, Global Brain and 8 others
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Railsbank Raises $37 Million Growth FundingFinancial IT•Nov 12, 2020•MiddleGame Ventures, Ventura Capital, Anthos Capital, Global Brain and 5 others
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London-Based Open Banking Platform Raises US$ 10 Million, Expands to SingaporeFinTechnews•Sep 03, 2019•Moneta Capital Partners, CreditEase, Clocktower Ventures, Singlife and 3 others
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Wagestream raises £15m from FinTech backersFStech•May 20, 2019•Wagestream, Shawbrook, Spotify, Creandum and 14 others
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Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos among backers of £4.5m Wagestream start-up fundCity A.M.•Sep 09, 2018•Wagestream, QED Investors, Village Global, Designer Fund and 8 others
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Creators of SkinNinja app secure $1m in seed fundingCosmetics Business•Jun 06, 2018•SciApps.io, SkinNinja, Voulez Capital, Firestartr and 1 other
