Open banking platform Snoop has secured GBP15 million in Series A funding from leading American investment management firm Paulson & Co Inc (Paulson), giving the business a post-money valuation of GBP47 million.
The money management app helps people spend, save and live smarter through personalised money-saving insights, and aims to save the average user GBP1,500 per year. This most recent round of fundraising for the company follows a GBP10 million round in December 2020 (Europe’s second largest crowdfund that year).
Snoop was launched in April 2020 by Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the former CEO of Virgin Money. The award-winning app uses open banking and advanced analytics to provide customers with data-driven, personalised insights (Snoops) to help them find their biggest money saving opportunities at exactly the right time. Users can view all their financial arrangements in one place, get a daily feed of smart spending tips and weekly spending reviews. The app has a laser like focus on bad deals, poor value renewals and wasteful subscriptions, which cost consumers in the UK alone around GBP12 billion every year, and makes it easy for them to switch and save.
Open banking – which puts customers in control of their own financial data – is helping to drive the growth of fintechs in the UK. Three million customers currently benefit, with new users being added at a rate of 2 million per year. Snoop is connected to over 50 banks and, in its second year, is already processing 300 million banking transactions worth GBP32 billion each day.
The funding from Paulson will be used to continue to scale rapidly, fund product and distribution development and extension, as well as aid international expansion.
Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Executive Chair of Snoop, says: “I’m delighted that Paulson has invested in the Snoop proposition, team and ambition, and that they – like us – view open banking as a major growth opportunity within the financial sector. We’re building a business with unstoppable momentum and this investment from a global financial heavyweight is a massive vote of confidence. It will play a key part in realising Snoop’s ambition to become a global leader, synonymous with open banking and smart money management.”
Andrew Hoine, Partner, Paulson, adds: “We view open banking as a major global market opportunity and Snoop has positioned itself to capitalise on this technology in a way that will allow the business to thrive and become an essential part of the way that we all manage our finances.”
Paulson joins existing investors The Havisham Group, Sir Lloyd Dorfman, Pierre Lagrange, Salesforce Ventures and members of the Snoop management team. The funding announcement comes shortly after Snoop won the ‘Best Innovation’ category at the 2021 British Bank Awards.
The Series A funding follows President Biden’s decision to issue an Executive Order to accelerate the progress of open banking in the US and paves the way for it to become a mainstream part of the banking system and transform how people manage their money.
