Challenger bank Novus has closed its crowdfunding round after reaching a total of over £2.2 million, successfully beating its initial target by over 250%.
London-based Novus’s goal is to create an ecosystem that connects consumers’ spending habits to purpose-driven brands and impact projects.
Every time a user taps their Novus card, real-time ‘impact’ points are donated to various environmental and social causes such as funding meals and cleaning the ocean.
Members can then follow their impact to see just how much of a difference they are making, as well as track and offset their carbon footprint based on their card activity.
The impact banking app co-founded by 27-year-old tech investment professional Hristian Nedyalkov has raised $5m total capital to date and is now actively onboarding users across the UK.
Having already gained a significant amount of support from a number of notable angel investors from EQT Ventures, QED, Softbank, scouts from Accel and a further tier 1 VC, BrightCap Ventures is the latest firm to invest in Novus and support its team in building its operational hub in Sofia.
As the first digital banking app in the UK to become a certified B Corporation, Novus is now live on both the App Store and Google Play Store and is continuing to rapidly onboard users.
“Since raising our first capital in late spring 2021, we have successfully built our own proprietary core banking infrastructure through various milestones including partnering with Visa and Railsbank, receiving regulatory approval from the Financial Conduct Authority and welcoming over 150 sustainable brands to our in-app marketplace,” said Nedyalkov.
“We initially launched our crowdfunding campaign in December 2021 – nine months after securing the pre-seed investment – with the aim to attract like-minded investors and early adopters to join us on our journey to help shape the future.
“We began overfunding almost immediately after achieving 100% of our $1.2m target within minutes, and we couldn’t be prouder. We feel incredibly encouraged by the response to our crowdfunding campaign as we bring the Novus mission to the UK market.”