A British fintech unicorn founded by a Conservative Party donor is working with bankers on a new funding round as valuations across the sector continue to soar.

Sky News has learnt that OakNorth, which counts the former chancellor Philip Hammond among its advisers, has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a share sale that would be its first primary fundraising for nearly three years.

OakNorth launched its digital bank in the UK in 2015, having been set up by Rishi Khosla, who has become a prominent figure in Tory fundraising circles.

It also operates a credit intelligence arm which supplies other banking clients with analysis of loan data.

The size of a new equity-raise and the valuation that it would attribute to OakNorth were unclear on Thursday.

A source close to the company said it did not require new funding and would only proceed with a raise if it identified investors who would be valuable partners for it.

Its last round, in February, saw SoftBank’s Vision Fund lead a $440m injection at a $2.8bn valuation.

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Since then, the price tags of some of Europe’s biggest so-called neobanks has surged, with N26, the German-based fintech, recently securing funds in a round valuing it at $9bn.

This week, Sky News revealed that Monzo, another British digital bank, was working on a £300m share sale that is expected to boost its value to around £3bn.

OakNorth declined to comment on Thursday.

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