Allica Bank, a digital bank serving small and medium businesses, has raised £115 million in Series D capital to become the UK’s latest unicorn.
The raise comes from Ventura Capital, GLG , Sona AM and existing investors TCV and Blue Owl. The majority of the round consists of common equity, alongside a portion of new additional Tier 1 equity capital.
Allica’s core market is established SMEs – businesses with typically 5-250 employees – and provides a full stack of services using proprietary technology.
The round values Allica at close to $1.2 billion.
The capital will fuel Allica’s continued lending growth and deepen investment into its technology stack, including using AI to revolutionise lending opportunities for established SME businesses, while expanding outside of its UK home market for the first time.
Over the past five years, Allica’s balance sheet has scaled to nearly £4 billion of SME loans, and over £5bn of deposits – and in 2023 launched its Business Rewards Account.
Allica now serves over 30,000 established SME businesses across the UK, around 5% of its target market, and is targeting 10% market penetration amongst established SMEs by 2028.
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“We’re building the category defining digital bank for established SMBs, and are excited to be taking our proprietary platform into new markets,” said Richard Davies, CEO of Allica. “This Series D investment is a major vote of confidence in Allica’s strategy and performance.”
Mo El Husseiny, managing partner of Ventura Capital, said: “Allica is a world class business that is executing exceptionally well in a large, underserved market. Ventura is proud to be a major investor in Allica’s Series D and we are raring to support this exceptional team’s next stage of growth into international markets.”