Augmentum Fintech notes successful fundraising developments at three of its portfolio companies: Tide, Zopa Bank and iwoca.
Tide
Augmentum Fintech has invested a further £4.2m in Tide, (www.tide.co, 14.1% of portfolio), the business banking platform. Tide announced on 20 September that it has reached 10% market share of all UK small businesses, with more than 550,000 customers. It bought the UK’s leading business credit marketplace Funding Options in November 2022, with regulatory approval from the FCA in February 2023. The acquisition fast-tracked the company’s credit offering by providing existing and new members access to over 120 lenders.
The past year also saw Tide realise the first steps in its international ambitions, as it officially launched in India in December 2022, expanding throughout 2023. Tide now has more than 150,000 members in India.
Zopa Bank
Zopa Bank (www.zopa.com, 11.9% of portfolio), the digital-first bank, announced on 8 September that it has raised £75m of Tier 2 capital to further drive its growth and expansion plans.
The financing follows £75m of equity funding raised in Q1 this year, in which Augmentum participated, which the bank used to support its M&A strategy and to acquire Point-of-Sale platform DivideBuy amongst other activities. Zopa Bank now serves 1m customers and aims to reach 5m by 2027. Zopa Bank expects to hit full-year profitability for the first time this financial year.
iwoca
iwoca (www.iwoca.co.uk, 3.1% of portfolio1), the SME lender, announced on 17 October that it has secured a new debt facility with initial commitments of £200m from Barclays Bank and Värde Partners. Augmentum says that as the UK’s high street lenders retrench and reduce access to capital for SMEs, this funding line allows iwoca to meet the growing SME demand for working capital. This comes as iwoca hits net profitability for the fourth consecutive quarter.
In January this year, iwoca secured an increase and extension to its existing funding line, with long-standing partner Pollen Street Capital – from £125m to £170m. With the new £200m funding line from Barclays and Värde this now takes the total debt commitments to over £850m.
AUGM : Augmentum updates on three investments – Tide, Zopa and Iwoca