British SME challenger bank Allica has nearly doubled profits and hit £3 billion of lending in a record-breaking year in which it was crowned as the fastest growing startup in Europe.
Named as the UK’s fastest growing private company by the Times and fastest growing tech company by Deloitte, Allica grew pre-tax profits to £29.9million, up 86% on the previous year driven by a 68% surge in gross revenue to £292.1 million.
Over the year, the bank signed up 6000 SMEs to its Business Rewards Account’ and expanded its business lending proposition with successful acquisition of bridging finance specialist Tuscan Capital.
The growth was driven by significant investment in digital infrastructure, leading to a surge in revenue as the digitally-native bank grew its loan book to over £3 billion and customer deposits surpassed £4 billion.
Allica's proprietary technology was built specifically to serve established SMEs - those businesses typically with 5-250 staff - who make up a third of the UK’s economy.
The company currently employs over 200 in-house product and engineering staff, delivering over 3,500 technology releases in 2024, including new integrations with Wise, Sage and Xero.
Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, says: “Allica have invested heavily in our proprietary technology capabilities to ensure we have the foundations in place to continue to scale at pace, in terms of the amount of established SMEs we're supporting and the ways we're supporting them."
“The pace of Allica's growth is testament to the frustration that our customers feel with the status quo, and that Allica is offering something truly exciting and innovative"