Augmentum Fint. Regulatory News (AUGM)

Augmentum Fintech Plc - £10 million investment into Zopa

PR Newswire

London, October 18

18 October 2021

Augmentum Fintech plc

£10 million investment into Zopa

Augmentum Fintech plc (LSE: AUGM) (“Augmentum”), the UK’s only publicly listed investment company focussing on the fintech sector, announces that it is making a further £10 million investment into digital bank Zopa, as part of Zopa’s latest funding round.

Zopa’s £220 million round is being led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 with participation from Chimera Abu Dhabi, and is conditional on regulatory approval. Augmentum is investing alongside other existing investors IAG Silverstripe, Northzone, and Davidson Kempner Capital Management.

Zopa (www.zopa.com) was founded in 2005 as the UK’s first Peer-to-Peer lending company. In 2020 Zopa was awarded a UK banking licence, and is now regulated by both the PRA and the FCA, allowing it to offer a wider product range, including fixed term savings backed by FSCS protection, and a credit card.

The funding will be used to meet the capital requirements of Zopa bank’s rapidly growing balance sheet. Since commencing operations in June 2020, Zopa bank has attracted £675 million in deposits through its fixed savings accounts, and has issued 150,000 credit cards becoming a top 10 credit card issuer in just over a year from launch. In 2021 Zopa was awarded Best Personal Loan Provider and Best Credit Card Provider by the British Bank Awards, and Best Online Savings Provider by the Moneynet Personal Finance Awards.

Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech, said: “We are delighted to support Zopa's continued growth. Since launching the bank, they have exceeded their growth plan, both in terms of customers and balance sheet. This capital injection of £220m will enable them to continue on this accelerated path and further evolve their diversified product set”.

END

About Augmentum Fintech

Augmentum invests in fast growing fintech businesses that are disrupting the financial services sector. Augmentum is the UK’s only publicly listed investment company focusing on the fintech sector in the UK and wider Europe, having launched on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 2018, giving businesses access to patient capital and support, unrestricted by conventional fund timelines and giving public markets investors access to a largely privately held investment sector during its main period of growth.

Neither the content of any website referred to in this announcement nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.