Portfolio News

Congratulations to Ben Pollard and the Cushon team who have closed a £35m fundraising round and announced their acquisition of Creative – manager of Creative Pension Trust.

Beauhurst released their annual ranking of the UK’s top 50 fintech companies by total amount of equity. Portfolio companies included were Zopa, Tide, Monese and iwoca.

Monese announce their acquisition of Trezeo as part of their wider push into credit and lending for independent, self-employed workers and those with untraditional lives and work.

We are pleased to have invested in Anyfin in their Series B round.  Anyfin leverages technology to allow credit-worthy consumers the opportunity to improve their financial wellbeing by consolidating and refinancing existing credit agreements with improved interest rates, as well as offering smart budgeting tools.

Congratulations to Grover for reaching €100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue. An amazing achievement from the Grover team! A big win for the circular economy as more people embrace a more sustainable way to use technology through flexible access. Read more here.

Wayhome has officially launched their ‘Gradual Homeownership’ model which aims to help aspiring homeowners who are unable to obtain a traditional mortgage to buy a home get on the housing ladder

Congratulations to Grover as they announce raising $1 billion in financing, the largest financing round for a startup within the circular economy space.

‘Habito One is finding traction amongst groups like older homeowners, those in their 50s who are looking for total repayment stability during the remainder of their mortgage’, says Dan Hegarty.

Grover brings the access economy to the consumer electronics market by offering a simple, monthly subscription model for technology products.

Augmentum portfolio companies Habito and Onfido are working alongside other leading UK tech businesses to fight the climate crisis, accelerate progress to net zero and help consumers make greener choices through Tech Nation’s “Tech Zero” initiative.

Receipt Bank rebrands to Dext. Hear all about their new chapter from CEO Adrian Blair and Tim Berners-Lee at their free event on 23rd February.

iwoca has been named as the no. 1 small business lender and top fintech firm on The Sunday Times Fast Track.

Global identity verification and authentication company Onfido has announced another record growth year in 2020, with global annual recurring revenue (ARR) increasing by 82% YoY.

“The stampede of small retail investors into the stock market has sent customer numbers surging at one of Britain’s biggest investment platforms.”

Earlier today, Onfido announced a change in leadership for their next phase of growth.

The two firms have teamed up to provide better financial services to those relying on the gig economy, the self-employed and those living abroad.

SME business bank Tide has been awarded £25m from the RBS Alternative Remedies Package Pool E Fund, in partnership with ClearBank.

Onfido, Farewill, Habito, Monese and Previse feature in this year’s The FinTech 50: “The top European fintechs to watch in 2020”, and Onfido takes the top spot.

Augmentum portfolio company Farewill featured in Business Insider’s “7 Hottest Lawtech Startups to Watch in 2020” article.

Receipt Bank acquires data processing platform Xavier

Onfido wins two CogX 2020 Awards

iwoca joins list of CBILS accredited lenders

Tide accredited to deliver Bounce Back Loans

iwoca ranked 22nd in the "Sunday Times International Track 200: British private companies with the fastest growing international sales" Read more and see the full rankings here

Onfido, today announced a year-over-year growth of 130%. The significant revenue growth, coupled with its first US acquisition, key leadership appointments and sustained industry recognition, signal continued scale and growth for the company as it focuses on widening...

Mortgage Introducer wrote the following about Habito's new service. "Habito has launched ‘Habito Go’, a home-financing service designed to give first-time buyers the advantages and negotiating power usually only enjoyed by cash buyers. With Habito Go, buyers are able...

Onfido Co-Founders Eamon Jubbawy, Husayn Kassai and Ruhul Amin have been named in the UK Tech 100: "The 100 most influential people shaping British technology in 2019". "Husayn Kassai, Eamon Jubbawy, and Ruhul Amin are the founders of Onfido, an AI-powered...

Fintech Magazine featured Monese in this article from 11th October 2019. "Monese was founded in 2013 by Estonian entrepreneur, Norris Koppel. The bank employs around 200 people, which according to Financial News is due to go up to 500 by the end of the year. The firm...

Metro Bank are boosting their SME offering with new fintech partnerships with Funding Options, Conance and Augmentum portfolio company DueDil. "In 2020, Metro Bank will deploy DueDil’s predictive company intelligence platform for a speedier account opening process,...

The Telegraph featured Augmentum portfolio company Tide on 6th October: "An arm of a Japanese investment ­giant has poured tens of millions of pounds into challenger bank Tide as the lender prepares for a major hiring spree.   Japan’s SBI, an early spin-off from...

This is Money featured Augmentum portfolio company Farewill on 4th October: "A fixed-fee probate service aimed at under-cutting banks and solicitors that charge a percentage of an estate has been launched by online wills specialist Farewill." Read the full article...

A year and a half after launching, Tide has signed up 100,000 members. See Tide's announcement on the milestone and learn about some of their customers here. Read The Telegraph's article on the announcement here.

Investment Week wrote about Augmentum portfolio company interactive investor‘s acquisition of Alliance Trust Savings (ATS):

“The completion of the acquisition, which was first announced in October 2018 and included the Alliance Trust office building in Dundee, brings together the two largest fixed-price retail investment platforms with combined assets under administration (AUA) of £36bn and some 400,000 customers.

Investment Week wrote about Augmentum portfolio company interactive investor‘s acquisition of Alliance Trust Savings (ATS):

“The completion of the acquisition, which was first announced in October 2018 and included the Alliance Trust office building in Dundee, brings together the two largest fixed-price retail investment platforms with combined assets under administration (AUA) of £36bn and some 400,000 customers.

Investment Week wrote about Augmentum portfolio company interactive investor‘s acquisition of Alliance Trust Savings (ATS):

“The completion of the acquisition, which was first announced in October 2018 and included the Alliance Trust office building in Dundee, brings together the two largest fixed-price retail investment platforms with combined assets under administration (AUA) of £36bn and some 400,000 customers.

In celebration of Refugee Week, Monese were proud to announce an ongoing project to support refugees across the UK.

“We’re committed to giving out our Premium plan to refugees (usually £14.95 a month) for free, for life. The Premium plan waives all transaction fees, granting our customers entirely free current account facilities.

Zopa won the award for ‘Most Trusted P2P Platform’ at the Moneywise Customer Service Awards, and were highly commended in the ‘Most Trusted Loans Provider’ category.

One fintech that’s feeling some UK establishment love is Onfido, a London-headquartered digital identity company that’s just made it through to the next round of the FCA’s global sandbox.

One fintech that’s feeling some UK establishment love is Onfido, a London-headquartered digital identity company that’s just made it through to the next round of the FCA’s global sandbox.

Fintech innovation is overhauling the supplier payments sector before another Carillion-style disaster occurs, according to Paul Christensen, CEO and founder of machine learning supplier payments firm Previse.

The banking app, which counts Monzo, Revolut and Starling Bank among its rivals, said over 3,000 people are now joining Monese every day across its dual UK and European current accounts.

BullionVault and WhiskyInvestDirect Founder Paul Tustain shares his entrepreneurial journey in the Financial Times.

Onfido, the global identity verification provider, today announced it has raised $50M in funding, bringing the total investment in the company to over $100M.

Metro Bank, Starling Bank and ClearBank (in partnership with Tide) have been awarded a combined £280m from an RBS fund designed to boost business banking competition.

Monese, the globally-connected banking service, has joined up with Avios, the loyalty currency, so users can easily track and maximise their Avios balance and check their transactions.

Small business lending challenger iwoca has closed a total fundraise of £150m, led by an earlier £7.5m investment from London-listed fund Augmentum Fintech.

Monese nominated for City AM’s Innovative Company Award

Our Venture Partner Martyn Holman writes on how unequal returns in Venture Capital have influenced the industry.

Monese nominated for City AM’s Innovative Company Award

Co-founder of Previse discusses the implications of late payments

BusinessCloud releases their recent 101 Fintech Disrupters list, which feature three of our portfolio companies

Augmentum invests £2.5 million in a ‘part-own, part-rental’ proposition

Monese, a European challenger banking app, recently raised a Series B round

Seedrs partners with US equity crowdfunding platform to create a transatlantic partnership

Tide recently secured £8m of funding with £3m convertible note from Augmentum Fintech

Explores Augmentum Fintech’s recent trio of investments into the European B2B fintech space

Previse recently secured £3.5m of Series A funding with £2m from Augmentum Fintech

Two fintech startups Zopa and CommuterClub collaborate to reduce the cost of travelling for commuters.

Interactive Investor sells its Internaxx Bank SA operation to Swissquote Group

Zopa raises a new round of funding in steps towards becoming a next generation bank

In a statement, Jeff Lynn, CEO and co-founder of Seedrs, said: "Secondary markets are challenging to operate successfully, and we are very conscious of our obligation. That is why we are launching this product in beta form initially, so that we can observe behavior...

A warning by a former regulator of risks building up in peer-to-peer lending has been attacked by the industry as ill-informed and unfair. Lord Adair Turner, the former chairman of the UK’s financial watchdog, said on Wednesday that “P2P” platforms could be the source...

Whatever 2016 brings, one thing will remain true: the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is to find the funds they need to launch and grow their business. As a result, more companies than ever are turning...

In a sign that Fintech has entered the realm of the establishment two leading entrepreneurs have been recognized by the Queen of England in the annual Honours List which was published yesterday. Samir Desai, co-founder and CEO of Funding Circle, has been honoured as a...

From banking to investment, mobile technology has revolutionised access to financial services as clients demand the ability to transfer money or take out an instant loan while they are on the move. In the past year, traditional lenders have been working hard to keep...

“I think consumers are responding to the disruption of all sorts of industries and disruption occurs when better value is offered by a disruptive player than the incumbents,” says Giles Andrews, chief executive of Zopa. In the latest FTAdviser video interview, Mr...

Two small British businesses have received a financial boost from Andy Murray via crowdfunding. The tennis star injected an undisclosed amount of cash in to the 'Youtube of 3D printing' MyMiniFactory and also subscription razor business Shavekit through online...

A lot has changed in 10 years. We look back at the past decade including some key cultural milestones as well as the evolution in finance from Zopa & P2P lending in transforming the face of finance for the better.Watch Video

Learn how Zopa lenders access their funds.Watch Video

Wealthy debtors are turning to alternative borrowing, including pawning classic cars and other luxury assets, to settle large tax bills at short notice with HM Revenue & Customs. Since last August, more than 25,000 taxpayers have received demands to pay disputed...

Peer-to-peer lender Zopa saw its revenues double last year as more savers and borrowers used its platform – but its losses also doubled as the business hired more staff to prepare for its planned future growth. Revenues jumped from £5.4m in 2013 to £11.5m in 2014,...

Jeff Lynn – CEO & Co-Founder of Seedrs | Silicon Real. London Real Academy.Watch Video

Zopa, the British peer-to-peer loan pioneer, has appointed a new chief executive as it seeks to draw more pension and personal savers to the alternative finance market. Jaidev Janardana, who joined the business last year as chief operating officer, is taking the helm...

The head of peer-to-peer lending business Zopa is to step aside, with immediate effect, to be replaced by his number two. The Telegraph has learnt that chief executive Giles Andrews, after eight years in the role, is to be replaced by Jaidev Janardana, the chief...

Asia is the focus as the next growth area for providers of alternative finance in the UK, despite concerns over the number of companies going bust and a lack of regulation. Peer-to-peer platform Ratesetter and small business lender Iwoca were among a cohort of...

Back in 2004, a group of businessmen sat in a barn in Buckinghamshire throwing around ideas. Was there a way to create some kind of bond market for consumers? Since most armchair investors might not understand the bond markets, could it be simplified into an eBay-like...