UK digital banking startup Loot has secured an additional £2.2 million in seed financing, taking total funding to £6 million.
Aimed at the millennial segment, Loot provides a mobile banking app connected to a prepaid, contactless ‘MasterCard’ debit card. Each customer has their own Loot account number and sort code, and the underlying e-banking services and license is provided by Germany's Wirecard.
Since opening for business in November last year, Loot has acquired 50,000 customers who can access the account via iOS, Android and the Web.
Ollie Purdue, the 24-year-old founder of Loot, says the new funding will introduce new social features and help the company as it takes on established banks and the new breed of app-only challengers.
"Right now we can replace a traditional bank account and help our users manage their money and track their spending through our app," he says. "The banks have significant market share, but struggle with helping people understand their money, and, in my opinion, they also struggle with tech and branding. For example, since I started Loot, my Natwest app hasn’t materially changed in any way I would notice it. That’s too slow for me as a user. The new fintech banks are much better at this, but none of us are at scale yet."
The Loot Advisory Board includes Zopa co-founder James Alexander,, VC Nick Kingsbury, John Sills, a former head of customer innovation at HSBC, digital banking consultant Jean-Stéphane Gourévitch and Stefan Klestil from investor SpeedInvest.
The latest £2.2 million round was led by Power Corporation's corporate VC, Portag3 and Speedinvest.