The former CEO of Funding Circle has raised £22.5 million to launch new payments FinTech Super.
Samir Desai CBE, a co-founder and non-executive director at Funding Circle, is behind the startup which aims to let businesses and shoppers keep more of their money.
The oversubscribed round was led by Accel, with participation from Union Square Ventures, LocalGlobe and a number of prominent angel investors.
These include Sir Ron Kalifa OBE, former CEO of WorldPay; Edward Wray, co-founder of Betfair; Peter Jackson, CEO of Flutter; Gokul Rajaram, board member at Coinbase; Andrew Robb, former COO of Farfetch; Maria Raga, former CEO of Depop; and the co-founders, chairman and CEO of Funding Circle, which has provided £14 billion of loans to over 120,000 small businesses.
Businesses are typically charged 1-5% in fees to accept eCommerce payments, and 15-30% to get sales through digital advertising companies.
Super claims to offer free payments to businesses and allow them to give instant cashback to shoppers. Businesses can set a commission they are willing to give Super to drive new sales.
“Businesses and shoppers have for too long been stung by huge fees on the internet, in many cases without even knowing,” said Desai.
“We believe that the simple Super app can save shoppers and businesses billions a year. At a time of high inflation and increases in the cost of living, redistributing the huge profits of payment and digital advertising companies back to customers, will significantly improve people’s lives.”
Super has opened a waitlist at superpayments.com for shoppers and businesses to join ahead of the official launch in the UK later this year. Shoppers joining the waitlist can gain early access to the Super app and earn £5 bonus cashback on their first purchase.
Harry Nelis, partner at Accel, added: “In today’s economic environment, businesses and consumers alike are feeling the squeeze on their finances.
“Samir and the team at Super are solving a problem that has flown under the radar for too long, and enabling everyone to keep more of their money. A second-time founder in the FinTech space, Samir has the ambition, industry knowledge, focus and team required to build a company at scale.
“I’m delighted to be joining forces with Super on the next phase of its journey and continuing a long partnership with Samir.”