UK-based digital business banking platform Tide has raised £44.1m in a first-round of Series B funding.
The startup aims to use the new money to increase its share of the UK business banking market and to prepare for an upcoming international expansion.
The SBI Group and Augmentum Fintech led the round. Both investors have a proven track record of investing in FinTech companies. SBI Group recently led crypto-asset risk management platform Elliptic’s $23m Series B round. Similarly, Augmentum Fintech led technology rentals platform Grover’s €11m (£9.77m) funding round in early October.
“Securing this substantial investment from successful FinTech investors like the SBI Group and Augmentum, underlines how far the business has come in a short time,” said Oliver Prill, CEO of Tide. “We believe this is one of the largest Series B rounds ever secured by a UK FinTech company.”
As a sidenote, the banking platform Curve raised $55m (£44.66m) in its Series B round in July this year.
Tide’s aims to grab 8% of the UK market share by 2023. In August 2019, Tide surpassed 100,000 members and increased its market share to 1.75%.
The new funding will go to towards the goal of trying to make Tide a leader in the UK. “As we outlined earlier this year, securing more funding means we can accelerate our strategy to capture a significant share of the UK SME banking market,” said Prill. “We want to challenge the oligopoly that has dominated and failed SMEs for too long. With a clear plan for growth in the UK backed by significant investment, we are ready for an exciting future, which includes looking at taking Tide to an international market.”
While emphasizing that it is not a bank, Tide offers its members business banking without monthly, weekly, annual or card usage fees. It claims the only costs are for transfers from non-Tide accounts, ATM use and cash deposits at the Post Office.
Unlike traditional banks, a new Tide account can be up and running in minutes rather than what can be weeks on the high street. As well as balances and payments, Tide can be fully integrated into accounting systems.
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