$44m to help Tide ride the SME banking wave

UK challenger bank, Tide, has secured an additional $44m via a funding round led by a major Japanese investor. The latest cash injection has come via a funding round led by Softbank spin-off SBI (Strategic Business Innovator Group) and supported by existing investor Augmentum.

Tide is one of an increasing number of providers targeting the small business banking sector in the UK (see: CGI partners with SME focused FinTech Ordo). In recent months there have been several new entrants launching their own banking offerings aimed specifically at this previously underserved segment (see: Scottish banking startup selects Temenos and revverbank selects Finastra for core banking).

The latest investment takes the total raised by Tide to date to more than $200m. The bank intends to use the cash to fuel its expansion efforts, as it seeks to establish scale in this increasingly competitive space. The impressive array of services now available to SMEs, after years of neglect by the established players, is clearly testament to the benefits of increased competition and the Open Banking reforms off the back of PSD2.

Posted by Jon C Davies at '07:50' - Tagged: funding   OpenBanking   challengerbank