SME lender Tide eyes $1bn valuation in Apis funding talks

Tide, the enterprise banking providers platform, is in superior talks to boost new funding in a deal anticipated to make it Britain’s newest know-how unicorn.

Sky Information has learnt that Tide has been negotiating the phrases of an funding from Apis Companions, a prolific investor within the fintech sector, for a while.

Metropolis sources cautioned {that a} deal between the 2 was not but sure to happen, and that different buyers had been additionally in discussions.

Apis Companions has backed early-stage firms reminiscent of Moneybox, the UK-based digital wealth supervisor, and Thunes, a digital funds infrastructure supplier.

Tide now has roughly 650,000 SME prospects in each Britain and India, with the latter market increasing at a sooner charge.

The exact phrases of a deal between Apis and Tide had been unclear on Monday.

Morgan Stanley, the Wall Road financial institution, has been advising Tide on the fundraising, which is anticipated to comprise a mix of main and secondary shares.

Tide was based in 2015 by George Bevis and Errol Damelin, earlier than launching two years later.

It describes itself because the main enterprise monetary platform within the UK, providing enterprise accounts and associated banking providers.

The corporate additionally supplies its SME ‘members’ within the UK a set of linked administrative options from invoicing to accounting.

It now boasts a roughly 11% SME banking market share in Britain.

Tide, which employs about 2,000 individuals, additionally launched in Germany final Might.

The corporate’s buyers embody Apax Companions, Augmentum Fintech and LocalGlobe.

Chaired by the Metropolis grandee Sir Donald Brydon, Tide declined to touch upon Monday.

Apis Companions additionally declined to remark.