Butter, the London based fintech platform that started life as the UK’s first Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) travel agency, has just closed a £15.8m funding round to accelerate the rollout of its responsible open-banking based BNPL shopping app. 

Personal money app Ziglu has raised nearly £900,000 through Angel Investment Network, the world’s largest online angel investment network, as part of a £6.1m seed round. Ziglu, founded by Mark Hipperson, bridges the worlds of cash and crypto by providing safe, simple access to cryptocurrencies fully integrated with a GBP account and Mastercard debit card.

British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has committed £10m to Co-Investment Fund (Co-Fund) NI helping to provide growth capital to early stage, high potential smaller businesses in Northern Ireland.

Ian Sayers, Chief Executive of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), has decided to step down later this year.

Ian was appointed Chief Executive of the AIC in January 2010, having joined the Association as Technical Director in November 1999. Ian has agreed to stay in position whilst a search for a new Chief Executive is undertaken. A full search will be completed by Odgers Berndtson and further details about the position can be found here. The AIC will make a further announcement later this year and it is expected that the process will be concluded by the end of 2021.

NatWest has launched MentorDigital, a free new digital advice platform for SMEs, which offers employment law, HR and health and safety guidance, as the UK takes its next steps out of lockdown.

Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has completed a significant growth equity investment in AutoRek, a leading provider of financial control, regulatory reporting and data management software. AutoRek’s cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) platform has experienced significant growth in the past three years and investment from SEP will enable the company to accelerate its product development plans and further extend its offering internationally.

Countingup, the business current account with built-in accounting software, has announced the close of a £9.1 million Series A investment round, led by Framework Venture Partners and joined by Gresham House Ventures, Sage, and existing investors. The funding will be used to drive product innovation, growth and team expansion.  Countingup is an innovative fintech company that offers a business current account with built-in accounting software. The two-in-one app simplifies bookkeeping and taxes for the self-employed as well as accountants across the UK.

Monument has raised over £28 million, significantly ahead of expectations and successfully completing one of the largest Series A funding rounds in fintech / banking of 2020 / 21, backed by a combination of new and existing experienced investors. Since inception, Monument has raised circa over £40m in funding, and it is now well placed to complete the build of its technological and operational capabilities and to be ready for launch in the Summer of 2021.

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to Byte, a marketing technology agency focused on fast-growing digital platform brands, on its sale to Dept, an international digital agency for creativity, technology and data, backed by The Carlyle Group.

ZEDRA, the fast-growing global specialist in Active Wealth, Global Expansion and Fund Services, has announced the acquisition of Inside Pensions, the UK’s leading independent occupational pension scheme governance support provider. The transaction is in line with the firm’s aim to diversify its service offering and expand its presence in the pension services space.

Wombat, the UK’s first thematic & curated fractional investment platform, has closed a £2million seed round to help the fast-growth business serve consumers’ increasing appetite for shares investing. The seed round, led by Fuel Ventures, will help Wombat further develop the platform to provide easy access to the world of investment and further open up its ability to offer fractional shares in global, household brands. Wombat’s fractional investment platform is the first of its kind in the UK and is encouraging a new generation of investors to save for the future by helping them to invest in shares, without the complexity and cost that is so often associated with trading on the stock market. 

DynaRisk announced an extension of their seed funding round, bringing total funding to over $3m. This round of funding was led by Nexus Investments with participation from existing investors Insurance Capital Partners and Jonathan Marland. The company was originally backed by London based Cylon Lab.