Chip launches growth investment round

Its longer-term ambition is to raise £100 million in the next 24 months

Digital savings fintech Chip is planning a growth investment round from the crowd and institutions in the coming weeks.

The UK-based fintech says the new round of funding will enable the acceleration of all growth activities across marketing, product and technology. Its longer-term ambition is to raise £100 million in the next 24 months.

In the past year, Chip says it has proven it can create a sustainable business model through the pandemic as it saw an explosive growth in revenue.

The fintech achieved positive growth margins for the first time in August 2021, while its revenues have increased 500% since December 2020.

Other achievements include growth in the total amount of saves processed to more than £600 million and daily deposits in excess of £5 million.

Chip has also seen its average user balance increase by 545% in the last year, from £459.35 in September 2020 to £2,961.03 in September 2021. Its user base now stands at more than 400,000.

Earlier this year, the fintech also launched a membership plan focused on earning returns, with access to 10 different funds.

As part of the crowd component of its latest round, Chip has launched pre-registrations for the upcoming Crowdcube campaign. The fintech saw more than 25,000 people register their interest for its previous round in September 2020, and expects a significant increase in pre-registrations this year.

Chip is among Europe’s most successfully crowdfunded companies, and its 17,000-strong shareholder community is one of the largest in the UK’s fintech scene. It expects to expand its community even further as a result of the upcoming round.

Simon Rabin, chief executive officer and founder of Chip comments: “Having focused for the past year on adding returns products to Chip, the growth of our revenues, and optimisation of our unit economics, this round of investment is a strong endorsement of the strategy we pursued in 2021.”

“We have ambitions to take Chip global, and this round is the start of an aggressive growth stage as we work towards becoming the UK’s first fintech savings unicorn. It represents a fantastic validation of our strategy over the past year, cementing our plans to expand Chip across Europe and rocket our valuation and shareholder value much further.”

“I firmly believe in the power of long-term sustainable growth”, Rabin continued. “Far too often companies focus on short-term profitability which I think is a massive mistake. Our goal at Chip is to build the best savings app in the world, and it’s not something you achieve overnight.”

“We made immense progress in the past year and now plan on building upon it, aggressively. I am thrilled to offer our community an opportunity to join our journey as we prepare to go big, and go global.”

Image: Chip

Mark Dugdale