FinTech startup Stoa has raised £1.8 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate the growth of its cash management platform, which enables consumers and businesses to unlock upfront lifestyle and business value from idle cash deposits.
The round was co-led by Bespokeist Partners and Ingenii Capital, with participation from Force Over Mass Capital and Fuel Ventures, alongside senior financial services angels including Suneel Hargunani, formerly of Citi, Rachel Sestini, partner at Shaw Gibbs group and co-founder of Canopy Capital, and other leaders from major global institutions.
Stoa combines behavioural finance, embedded banking infrastructure and merchant partnerships to create a new distribution and engagement layer between financial institutions, brands and customers.
Stoa’s platform is now live in the UK for both consumers and businesses. Customers can place deposits into fixed-term ‘Stoa Pots’ and receive upfront perks and benefits from partner brands, rather than relying solely on traditional interest models.
Deposits are held with regulated banking partners and eligible funds are protected under the FSCS protection scheme.
The company believes consumer and business behaviour around cash is changing rapidly.
More than £600 billion is currently held in low-yield or non-interest-bearing consumer accounts in the UK, alongside more than £250 billion in SME cash reserves. In the US, Stoa estimates that more than $1 trillion sits in low or zero-interest SME accounts alone, with substantially larger amounts held across consumer current and checking accounts.
Stoa is also already growing partnerships and strategic conversations across the United States alongside its UK expansion.
“The future of cash management is not just about interest rates,” said Mike Saraswat, co-founder and CEO of Stoa.
“People want choice, tangible value, and a clearer sense of how their money is working for them. Stoa is creating a new experience around idle cash, one that rewards customers upfront while keeping eligible deposits protected through regulated banking infrastructure.
“For financial institutions, Stoa helps attract larger deposits for longer. For merchants, it helps reduce churn, deepen customer loyalty, and lower reliance on card processing fees.”
Co-founder and CTO Sam Goodenough added: “We’ve built a modular and composable architecture that banks and merchants can plug into directly or expose through their own channels. The result is that partners can offer Stoa Pots as a native part of their own product set, turning idle deposits into a genuine engagement and retention tool. And when customers securely link their bank account through open banking, smart algorithms read spending and saving patterns to shape even sharper, more personalised offers.”
Stoa has assembled a cross-functional team spanning banking, fintech, marketing, and technology, with experience drawn from organisations including Octopus Investments, Starling Bank, Vodafone, Oracle, Nationwide Building Society, Lloyds Banking Group, and Three UK.
John Mountain, former CEO and co-founder of Starling Bank, has recently joined Stoa as an Advisor, supporting product innovation and growth across financial institutions and merchant distribution.
The company says it is already seeing strong inbound interest from banking partners and merchants exploring how its model can help drive stronger customer engagement, increase deposits, improve retention, and unlock new forms of value creation for their customer bases. Stoa is also in early partnership discussions in the US as it prepares for planned expansion into the market.
Memet Yazici, co-founder and managing partner at Bespokeist Partners, said: “We are delighted to back a FinTech that encourages, measures and elevates saving rather than spending.
“This is a team with 50+ years experience in banking and FinTech, focusing on delivering more than just annual percentage yield to savers in the UK and the US. Stoa is here to create more value for savers, banks and merchants from idle cash.”
Michael Boocher, founder and managing director at Ingenii Capital, said: “I love how the Stoa Pots work like a new payment rail powered by your savings.
“You use your money to get the things you need without spending any of it. It’s a gateway to Universal Basic Income, your savings stay fully intact while they cover your subscriptions and everyday essentials.”
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