UK-based Zopa raises £75 million
Zopa announced have raised £75 million ($93m) to drive their next phase of growth, with vision to become Britain’s best bank.
The deal cements and markedly enhances Zopa's unicorn status, and was led by existing investors. The funding will be used to meet the capital requirements of Zopa's growing balance sheet, and to support M&A dealmaking that could kick off as early as this quarter.
Zopa is not disclosing a lead investor and also previous lead investor SoftBank was not participated in this round.
Jaidev Janardana, CEO at Zopa said:
Today’s equity round reaffirms the support of our investors despite the challenging economic environment. It is a clear validation of Zopa’s responsible, sustainable and profitable approach to lending, our strong unit economics, and our vision to build Britain’s best bank.
Zopa takes an agile and dynamic approach to credit risk which means it has continued to lend responsibly in a changing environment. As a result, our business remains resilient with record loan origination volumes, stable credit performance comparable to pre-pandemic levels, and continued innovation.
We are happy to have investors who share our excitement at the opportunity to serve more customers across more product categories. This has already led to several profitable months in 2022 and will very likely convert into full-year profitability in 2023 for the first time.
Zopa bank draws on the best of both digital and legacy banks, combining its strong digital capabilities with 17 years of lending experience and £8 billion in personal loans approved.
In contrast to fintechs and e-money institutions, Zopa is a “real” bank. A banking license means that Zopa is held to the same standards as major high street banks in terms of how customers are safeguarded. For example, its deposits are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000.
Since launching in 2020, Zopa bank has attracted £3 billion in deposits, more than £2bn of loans on balance sheet, and issued more than 400,000 credit cards. It currently has a rating of 4.6 / 5 on Glassdoor, one of the highest employee satisfaction scores across the UK fintech industry.
Zopa was named “Bank of the Year” 2022 at the AltFi Awards, and previously “Best Personal Loan Provider” and “Best Credit Card Provider” at the British Bank Awards.
