FinTech SME challenger bank Allica Bank has raised £100 million in Series C funding.
Allica provides a full-service banking relationship to established SMEs and entrepreneurs, offering them lending, savings and payments.
It says businesses with 10 to 250 employees represent around a third of the UK economy yet are neglected by both mainstream high street banks and other FinTechs who instead focus on consumers and micro-businesses.
The round was led by global growth technology investor TCV with participation from existing investors Warwick Capital Partners and Atalaya Capital Management.
With this investment, Allica joins TCV’s impressive roster of portfolio companies, including household names like Airbnb, Netflix, and Spotify, as well as category-defining fintechs such as Brex, Mambu, Mollie, Nubank, Qonto, Razorpay, Revolut, Toast, Trade Republic and Zepz.
It will be used to scale Allica rapidly and accelerate its disruptive impact in the UK SME market after Allica became profitable in June this year, while also reaching the £1 billion lending milestone and completing the migration of around 2,000 SME customers acquired from AIB GB.
“From the moment we sat down with TCV it was clear we shared the same vision to transform SME banking in the UK, by taking on the mainstream ‘high street’ banking market,” said Richard Davies, chief executive of Allica Bank and former executive at HSBC and Revolut.
“It’s a massive vote of confidence in the team we’ve built at Allica to attract backing from such a world-class technology investor under the toughest of market conditions, and this £100 million funding round will enable us to support far more of Britain’s established and growth companies, who have been underserved for too long.”
Michael Kalfayan, partner at TCV, said: “Richard and team have built a truly impressive platform that is looking to solve a great need for UK established SMEs, a highly complex segment to serve.
“TCV is laser-focused on partnering with market-leading companies seeking to leverage technology to transform industries.
“Allica is a prime example of this and we’re incredibly excited to collaborate with this strong team as they work to be the country’s leading digitally-native SME bank.”