Attractiveness for Fintech: High
Fintech providers will find this sector highly attractive. The average importer brings in around £200,000 worth of goods each month, which promises good fees from cross-border payment volumes and regular foreign exchange activity. With approximately 4,900 active players in the market, sales teams can apply repeatable outreach strategies, enabling excellent scalability.
Importers in this segment supply a wide variety of products to the UK, including rubber tubes, tyres, conveyor belts, rubber plates and profiles, pharmaceutical rubber products, clothing and accessories, raw rubber etc.
Promising Sub-Groups:
-
2,050 mid-sized importers (annual turnover of £1–15 million) that are often open to alternative banking and payment solutions. They are already big enough to generate good fees for aspiring fintechs but still small enough to be attractive for larger banks.
-
354 businesses with strong potential for exotic and minor-currency FX. Although they mainly trade in USD or EUR, their owners and directors frequently come from countries associated with currencies such as TRY, PLN, ZAR, ILS, HKD, SGD, DKK, SEK, NOK, THB, KWD, and KES. Many continue to maintain teams, suppliers, or headquarters in their home countries, driving consistent demand for these local currencies.
-
Around 1,100 companies that have grown their current assets by over 10% recently. This growth indicates rising capital needs and creates strong opportunities for trade finance products.
-
880 e-commerce operators selling through Amazon, eBay, Instagram, Facebook, and similar platforms. These businesses typically face delayed payouts (often 2–3 weeks from Amazon), working capital constraints, and multi-currency customer payments — making them well-suited for revenue-based financing, inventory finance, trade finance, and core FX/payment services.
From a risk perspective, this segment is particularly appealing. Although China is the largest single supplier (with ~15% market share), around 50% of imports still comes from counterparties in lower-risk countries such as Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the USA, Poland, Italy, and other EU nations. This substantially lowers compliance exposure for fintechs.
Top 20 Companies by Length of Import Activity
Click here to see the full list.
Use filters to identify leads by company size, growth profile, residence of owners, import history, and other characteristics.