British Business Bank backs 9fin in USD $170m round
British Business Bank has invested USD $20 million in 9fin as part of the London-based fintech's USD $170 million Series C funding round.
The round values 9fin at more than $1 billion, giving it unicorn status and adding it to the bank's equity portfolio of high-growth companies.
British Business Bank invested alongside European venture capital firm Redalpine. HarbourVest led the round, with participation from Canada Pension Plan Investments and existing investors Redalpine, Highland Europe, Spark Capital and Seedcamp.
Founded in 2016, 9fin provides data, analytics, news and document extraction tools for debt market professionals. Its customers include banks, investors, advisers and law firms working across leveraged finance, private credit and distressed debt.
Debt capital markets are the world's largest asset class, but much of the underlying information remains scattered across data rooms, emails and PDF documents, according to 9fin. Its platform is designed to bring that material into a single system for credit professionals.
9fin says it has recorded multiple consecutive years of 100% annual recurring revenue growth and has now raised more than USD $250 million in total. More than 300 banks, asset managers, law firms and advisory firms use its platform globally, it says.
The latest funding will support further product development in artificial intelligence, expansion of 9fin's proprietary dataset and continued growth in the US market. The company has been building its presence there alongside its London headquarters and offices in New York, Hong Kong and Belfast.
Scale-up funding
The deal also reflects a broader push by British Business Bank to provide more later-stage capital to UK businesses. Its equity programmes had supported 27 UK unicorns as of January 2026, representing 64% of all current UK unicorns, according to the bank.
"We are stepping up our support for the UK's scale-ups. Investments like this provide vital growth funding for fast-growing companies and are complementary to our indirect support through venture capital funds. By increasing the availability of later-stage capital, we are helping the UK's most innovative businesses to realise their commercial potential while maintaining a strong UK presence," Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at British Business Bank, said.
George Mills, Investment Director at British Business Bank, said the investment highlighted the strength of UK financial technology companies in specialist markets. "We're proud to be backing yet another UK unicorn. 9fin is a great example of the strength of UK fintech, applying AI to transform one of the world's largest and most complex financial markets. This investment will help 9fin to accelerate its global expansion and continue to drive productivity in debt markets," said Mills.
AI focus
9fin was founded by former J.P. Morgan banker Steven Hunter and Deutsche Bank engineer Hussam EL-Sheikh. The company has positioned itself around the use of artificial intelligence in credit analysis and debt market workflows, combining market information with tools designed to help users process documents and identify relevant opportunities.
Steven Hunter, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of 9fin, said the latest round would support that strategy as the company expands across geographies and product lines.
"AI will redefine the credit markets, but only if it's powered by proprietary data and embedded into how professionals actually work. That's exactly what we've built at 9fin. We've scaled our product rapidly across geographies and asset classes to provide clients with an unmatched breadth and depth of data in an AI-native platform. Our ultimate goal is to be the only platform credit professionals ever need. This capital gets us there even faster," said Hunter.