Tide Raises $54.3M In Funding Round

Tide, a popular business banking platform, has raised $54.3 million in a Series B funding round, the company announced in a release on Monday (Oct. 7).

The SBI Group, which is based in Japan, and Europe-based Augmentum led the round. Tide will use the capital to grow its share of the banking business market in the U.K., as well as to fuel international growth.

Clearbank, a Tide partner, also received a $74 million grant from the RBS Alternative Remedies Package. Tide wants to raise another $74 million in subsequent funding rounds. With that proposed money, the company’s total raised would come to $160 million.

Oliver Prill, CEO of Tide, said: “Securing this substantial investment from successful FinTech investors like The SBI Group and Augmentum underlines how far the business has come in a short time. We believe this is one of the largest Series B rounds ever secured by a U.K. FinTech company. As we outlined earlier this year, securing more funding means we can accelerate our strategy to capture a significant share of the U.K. SME banking market. We want to challenge the oligopoly that has dominated and failed SMEs for too long. With a clear plan for growth in the U.K. backed by significant investment, we are ready for an exciting future, which includes looking at taking Tide to an international market.”

Tide has a goal of achieving an 8 percent market share in the U.K. by 2023. In August of this year, the company reached 100,000 members and its market share reached 1.75 percent.

The company’s workforce has also grown rapidly, doubling in size to more than 250 people this year. Tide has introduced numerous new products, including Tide Capital, which will enable the company to offer its own credit products to members.

“Tide’s rapid growth, alongside the quality of its products and services used by its growing army of members, is hugely exciting,” said Yoshitaka Kitao, president and CEO of The SBI Group. “For more than a decade, we have been establishing an internet-based financial ecosystem to drive growth through the aggressive use of new technology. Tide fits perfectly into that ecosystem and shares our approach to business, which is to be customer-centric and innovative to create value.”