Prosper, the UK WealthTech founded by Tandem and Nutmeg alumni, has hit its £800,000 Crowdcube target before launching to the public.
The brainchild of Tandem vets Ricky Knox and Nick Perrett and Nutmeg COO Phil Bungey, the firm has already raised £3.2 million in pre-seed backing from a host of fintech founders, including Monzo's Tom Blomfield and Capital One's Matt Cooper, as well as a successful £1 million crowdfund round in December last year.
Prosper is looking to emulate the likes of Wise in foreign currency exchange by undercutting the fees levied by wealth managers and offering high-interest bearing returns on balances. Opened for founding members just months ago, it already offers SIPP, ISA and general investment accounts.
Says Perrett: “We have been overwhelmed by the early show of support in the crowdfund. We know that businesses like ours can’t change the status quo without a community behind us. Challenger banks like Monzo and Revolut have shown that great returns for early investors are possible.”
The raise on Crowdcube is still open for overfunding.
News of the raise coincides with the launch by Prosper of savings accounts, opening up a choice of hundreds of high interest rate options across easy access, fixed rate and notice accounts from a wide range of banks. The firm's market beating rate of 5.78% is the highest interest rate available in the UK for a 365-day notice tracker.
“Bringing your cash savings and your pensions together in one place can really help you understand what your money is doing," says Perrett. "With the Prosper Savings Account, you can access new interest rates on cash all the time in the app and easily move your cash to take advantage. This is part of our core mission to make sure that people can maximise their potential wealth. We don’t charge for opening or managing your cash accounts. Instead we take a small percentage amount from the bank account provider.”