Zopa has completed a series of transactions adding up to £32 million in investment and secured two new major investors.
The additional investment will finance Zopa’s continued growth and product development, and support the build-out of our bank infrastructure in preparation for the submission of our bank licence application later this year.
The investments were led by Wadhawan Global Capital, a leading Indian financial services group in India, and Northzone, a European venture capital fund specialising in fast growth technology companies, and early backer of companies such as Spotify and iZettle. WGC and Northzone join existing backers Arrowgrass, Augmentum Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Runa Capital. Following the investment, Kapil Wadhawan, Chairman of WGC, will join the Zopa Board.
Last November, Zopa announced plans to launch a next generation bank allowing it to expand its product offering and give UK consumers even more choice in financial services. At launch, Zopa plans on offering FSCS-protected deposit accounts for savers, a range of peer-to-peer investment products – including IFISAs – for investors, and personal loans, car finance, and credit cards for people looking to borrow.
The new investment follows significant growth at Zopa over the last 12 months. Since June 2016, Zopa has facilitated over £800m in personal loans to UK consumers and in January this year became the first European peer-to-peer lender to make £2bn worth of loans.
Jaidev Janardana, Zopa CEO, commented: “Zopa’s vision has always been to make money simple and fair for consumers, providing our customers with better value, better service, and greater choice. This investment gives us additional resources to continue our growth, support the launch of our next generation bank, and bring our award-winning products to even more people in the UK.”