Savings app Chip has raised £7.3 million to fund its expansion, with £3.8 million crowdfunded by customers, and the remainder from angel investors. The company has also brought in several industry veterans to help drive its growth.
Last year, Chip broke UK crowdfunding records, raising around £4 million by the time it closed. This year, the startup welcomed many more investors, bringing the total number to over 10,000.
The company opted to initially offer £1 million to existing investors, and after funding exceeded £1 million in just 54 minutes, opened up the remaining allocation to their customers. The 2019 crowdfunding campaign ran for three weeks in September and is currently Crowdcube’s most participated-in crowdfund ever, with 7,182 investors.
The capital will go towards scaling and improving Chip's capacity to handle large volumes of customers, by both expanding the team and refining infrastructure. It also plans on using the funds to launch better savings rates, offer access to Financial Services Compensation Scheme-protected accounts, and deliver an in-app marketplace for returns products.
The investment comes after a Chip broke through 150,000 customer accounts and brought in former Purplebricks chief technology officer David Kavanagh, former Deposit Solutions chief operating officer Sharon Miles, former Funding Circle compliance lead Gerard Hurley, and Monzo co-founder Gary Dolman.
Chief executive Simon Rabin commented: “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.”
New chief technology officer Kavanagh added: “The savings market is archaic, broken and ineffective – people want more from their savings accounts, so they are voting with their capital.
“Chip has raised VC-levels of funding from its users and supporters, demonstrating that what customers want is a market-changing product that is easy to use, helps them save, and offers the best possible rates in the market.”
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