Swoop, the London-based ‘finance buddy’ for businesses globally has just raised £5.4M in a Series A funding round. This financing purposes to assist the startup to accelerate its international expansion efforts and help more companies gain access to an array of financing options.
This round of funding starred the VC group Velocity Capital Advisors, Arab Bank Ventures, Italian Angels for Growth and California’s WeHo Ventures. Velocity already ranks as an existing investor in Swoop, alongside a list of other early backers which includes private investors from the UK and Enterprise Ireland. The funding follows a global surge in demand for SME financing, with Swoop’s revenue already forecasted to increase by 450% this year.
A one-stop-shop for financing for businesses
Founded by Andrea Reynolds & Ciaran Burke in 2017, Swoop relies on the framework offered by all banks whereby third-party finance providers like Swoop can gain access to users’ financial data in a secure way and determine the best financing options. The fintech describes itself as a virtual finance buddy that essentially analyses credit-related data and then scours the market to match individual data to the right products, personalised.
Swoop is already partnering with all the major UK banks and has partnerships with business institutions including the British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. A highlight: the female-led fintech was instrumental in distributing hundreds of millions of pounds to businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic in the form of Bounce Back loans.
More than 75,000 businesses have made use of Swoop’s software platform to investigate and gain access to a wide range of financing sources such as equity offerings, grants, loans and tax credits.
“Access to finance is the number one issue facing SMEs, but they have traditionally been an underserved customer segment. Finance is data-driven and borderless. With the influx of new lenders into the market, Swoop is able to connect SMEs with the funding they need wherever they are in the world. To date we’ve helped our customers secure £500M to grow their businesses,” explained Andrea Reynolds, Swoop’s co-founder & CEO.
What’s next for Swoop?
Swoop’s expansion efforts will particularly focus on North America, targeting the US through its existing operations in Canada. This follows the recent establishment of its Australian operation which adds to its physical presence in the UK and Ireland. The startup anticipates having 80 staff by the end of the summer, up from the present 60. The startup still continues to enhance its tech & consumer proposition.
By better aggregating banking, accounting and credit data, business owners, advisors and brokers will quickly understand and apply for the products readily available to them. “Andrea and the team at Swoop have executed strongly on their potential since we first invested in the company in 2018. We are excited to see them take their vision to new markets, ” stated Rajeev Saxena, the CEO of Velocity in an expression of his support for Swoop.
