UK finance firm Tide raises $100mn in funding round led by Apax Digital

Company has a development centre in Hyderabad and plans a full launch in India next year

Tide, a UK business finance platform that has a global development centre in Hyderabad, said on Monday it has got more than $100 million in funding, bringing the company’s total raised capital to $200 million.

Tide is valued at over $650 million post-money, after four years of operation. 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, earlier this year, announced it planned a full launch in India for 2022.

Tide’s user base in 2020 more than doubled in the UK, said the company in a statement.

With over 350,000 members, over 400,000 business accounts and a proposition ranging from business banking to payments and accounting software, Tide serves around 6 per cent of UK businesses.

“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,” said Oliver Prill, Tide’s CEO.

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

Mark Beith, Partner at Apax Digital and Niccolò Ferragamo, Principal at Apax Digital said: “Small businesses are a key pillar of the economy. Yet, for years, they have been underserved by both financial services and software providers. We are thrilled to partner with Oliver and the Tide team in their mission to simplify the lives of millions of small businesses globally.”

The investment remains subject to FCA approval. Financial Technology Partners (FT Partners) served as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Tide on this transaction.