Chip has raised £7.3m, breaking records for the amount of small investors the savings app attracted through crowdfunding.
The London-based start-up raised £3.8m from 7,182 backers on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. The remainder of the firm’s cash came from angel investors.
Taken together with an earlier crowdfunding campaign Chip has more than 10,000 small investors, making it one of the most crowdfunded firms in the UK, according to Crowdcube.
Chip uses artificial intelligence algorithms to calculate how much its 150,000 customers can afford to save, and automatically transfers the cash to nominated savings accounts. It has secure links to a range of banks such as Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, RBS, Direct, Co-operative Bank and Metro Bank.
‘Ready to scale’
The firm, founded in 2017, said it will use the fresh funds to grow its team, boost customer service levels, and launch an in-app marketplace for returned products.
Chip chief executive Simon Rabin (pictured) said: “It’s amazing to have this many Chip savers as investors in the company.”
He added: “We’ve proven there’s a big demand for Chip, and we’re ready to scale – we’re going to use our investment to grow and deliver a product that will fill a huge gap in the market.”
The firm has recently made a number of senior hires, including Kavanagh, the former chief technology officer at online estate agent Purplebricks and chief compliance officer Gerard Hurley, who joined earlier this year from peer-to peer lender Funding Circle.
Chip said it has processed over £130m worth of savings, since its launch two years ago.
