Kore, the RegTech SaaS platform that enables large financial institutions to fast track regulatory compliance, has raised just under £2.4m.
The funding has come from Wealth Club members under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) in a heavily oversubscribed round.
The UK financial services industry is facing one of the biggest regulatory shake-ups in years following the introduction of the FCA’s Consumer Duty.
This drastically impacts how regulated firms operate requiring them to provide a full audit trail of the entire life cycle of every financial product offered.
Around half of these firms are not ready to incorporate these changes as they are beyond the reach of legacy technology and systems.
However, failure to do so could lead to costly fines and severe reputational damage, which is why the RegTech market is experiencing rapid growth and is expected to reach US$28.33 billion by 2027.
Kore, the first dedicated SaaS platform for end-to-end product lifecycle management in financial services, is uniquely positioned to take advantage of this.
The company provides a cost effective compliant solution which helps financial firms harness complex and fragmented data, bringing it together to create a digital audit trail across all products and functions in one place.
Kore is the only industry solution providing true regulatory oversight for senior managers, a cross product management tool for specialists, and an intuitive product hub for frontline users.
Sabrina Del Prete, CEO of Kore said: “Having worked in financial services for more than 30 years I am only too familiar with the challenges new regulation brings. Providing a full audit trail for the entire lifecycle of every financial product a company offers is a very complex task, which legacy technology systems cannot easily cope with.”
Gayle Bowen, head of direct company investments at Wealth Club, said: “Kore is an exceptionally promising company. Its technology has become ‘mission critical’ to financial institutions dealing with regulatory change and the company is managed by highly experienced industry leaders who collectively have deep relationships with many leading banks, insurance companies and wealth managers.
“Sabrina’s vision and insight, combined with impeccable timing, has propelled Kore towards rapid adoption and a fast-growing stream of recurring revenues. A great example of a commercially compelling EIS investment capable of delivering outstanding returns. Wealth Club members were quick to see Kore’s huge potential, as were we.”
The company has been revenue-generating since launch in 2019 and has doubled revenues year-on-year with a recurring business model that enables scalable, profitable growth.
Kore’s chairman, Phil Smith, was formerly a global managing director of Barclays Wealth Management and founder of Embark Group which was sold last year to Lloyds for £390m.
Joining them is Darren Carter, former chairman of Peel Hunt, Sally Clark former chief internal auditor for Barclays Group and current non executive director of Citibank, and leading industry voice John Live, who has held senior positions at the FCA.
Wealth Club was set up in February 2016 and is now the largest non-advisory broker of tax efficient investments such as VCTs, EIS and inheritance tax portfolios.
Since launching 11,000 clients have invested more than £1.1 billion through its platform.