Financial technology, better known as "fintech," is exploding in the UK right now, with startups popping up all over the place, doing everything from crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending to bringing blockchain technology to the banks.
British fintech startups raised $962 million (£676.9 million) in investment funding last year, according to KPMG. London alone accounting for $743.7 million (£523.3 million) of that.
Business Insider has been covering the sector closely and has rounded up the 40 most exciting people in the scene right now.
We looked at who's done cool and interesting things in the past year, including companies that have raised money or grown rapidly. We've also tried to include some of the less obvious names — the people doing great things behind the scenes — as well the faces out front.
The list spans entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, regulators, hackers, and investors. Did we miss anyone? Let us know in the comments. Now check out who made the cut below.
Additional reporting by James Cook and Rob Price.
40. Kevin Beardsley — Elliptic, Head of Business Development
What company does: Bitcoin and blockchain analysis tools for financial services and law enforcement.
Headcount: 9.
Funding: $7 million (£4.8 million).
Why they’re cool: Elliptic started out trying to get financial services interested in bitcoin by offering analysis and custodian services but has since morphed into offering tools to law enforcement to help them catch criminals that are using bitcoin — but it still has finance customers.
Beardsley is helping to drive the startup's expansion and the company recently bagged $5 million (£3.4 million) from investors including Santander InnoVentures to drive growth. In a past life, Beardsley co-founded Beija, a super-premium brand of Brazilian spirit cachaça.
39. Mulenga Agley — Monese, VP of Growth
What company does: Mobile-only bank account designed for migrants.
Headcount: 22.
Funding: $5 million (£3.4 million).
Why they’re cool: Former ad man Agley left clients like BMW, Coca Cola, and Natwest to join mobile banking startup Monese after being wowed by founder and CEO Norris Koppel's vision.
As VP of Growth, Mulenga is charged with getting people interested in the app, which lets migrants easily open bank accounts in the country they're going to via their mobile. He's having great success, with a waiting list of 50,000 and 35,000 downloads of Monese so far.
38. Alick Varma — Osper, CEO and founder
What company does: Pre-paid money card for kids.
Headcount: 22.
Funding: $11.2 million (£7.7 million.)
Why they’re cool: Varma was given responsibility for managing hundreds of pounds at a young age by his accountant parents, charged with buying his own school clothes and drawing up budgets. That experience inspired him to set up Osper, a per-paid money card for kids that lets parents monitor their children's spending and set up regular pocket money payments, among other features.
Varma trained as a maths teacher but worked at with Kenyan mobile money company M-Pesa and Spotify before setting up Osper.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider