Tide raises $100 mn in Series C funding at a valuation of $650 mn

By Joy Dumasia

UK business banking platform Tide has raised over $100 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $650 million.

The Series C round was led by Apax Digital, the growth equity team of Apax Partners. Anthemis, Augmentum, Jigsaw, Local Globe / Latitude, SBI, and SpeedInvest, existing investors in the company, also participated in the round.

Tide, which has recruited 350,000 SMEs and opened over 410,000 business accounts since its launch in the UK in 2017, says the funding will be used to support its international expansion strategy.

The new funding will help the firm to develop its business and increase its market share. In partnership with ClearBank, Tide has also been awarded a total of nearly $120 million in grants from the RBS Alternative Remedies Package.

The cash injection comes just weeks after the firm announced plans to kickstart its international expansion strategy in India, with a commitment to invest £100 million and create 1000 jobs over the next five years.

Oliver Prill, Tide’s CEO, said: “Partnering with Apax Digital validates Tide’s potential to continue our growth trajectory and gain traction in global markets. As we embark on taking Tide international, we couldn’t have a better set of investors to support us.”

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Tide, the UK-based business financial platform, has launched Tide Credit Builder to help small businesses build up their Experian credit score to borrow to grow. It will help its members build their creditworthiness by giving them a micro ‘reverse loan’ of £240. The business makes ‘repayments’ of around £23 per month to Tide; once 12 monthly payments have been made, the business will receive £240 back.