Speedinvest and business angels backed the pre-seed round to support platform growth and US expansion.
"Tulipshare is truly a first of its kind platform. Our goal is to give a voice to the everyday individual, to encourage retail investors to rethink their investment strategies. We want to shine a spotlight on the global issues no other investment platform has done to date, and, in turn, truly make progress in fighting the injustices committed by major corporations where, traditionally, major decisions are kept to a handful of individuals."
The pre-seed round was backed by BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership and Triple Point Ventures to fund platform development and team expansion.
"Finance for postgraduate and technical qualifications is outdated and prohibitive. The best courses are too expensive for the vast majority of potential students, and the costs are not covered by Government loans. The Student Loans Company loses 80p for every £1 it lends – a public finance model simply isn’t viable when half of Masters graduates go on to earn less than the UK average so would never repay the loan. Debt is a poor solution to this problem, with lending terms based on past income, which restricts opportunity for younger and less wealthy individuals and limits upward social mobility. Outcome-based finance fixes this and opens up enormous economic opportunities for people who would otherwise be priced out of the kind of courses that unlock significantly higher earning potential."
Chrysalis Investments provided £75m of the total Series D financing, which comprises primary and secondary equity.
"Smart is an innovator and continues to establish itself as the leading retirement technology platform provider globally. In just a few years it has disrupted the retirement savings industry, working with some of the world's most well-known financial services providers to create a better way to save toward retirement and access funds during retirement."
Strategic investor Invus Opportunities has backed the profitable UK consumer finance company to support its international growth.
"We welcome Invus Opportunities to the board and look forward to working with their team as we continue to grow ClearScore in the UK and internationally. As one of the only profitable UK fintech business operating at real scale, we didn’t need to raise money, but rather we chose to partner with Invus. We made this decision as a team because of Invus’ track record of working strategically over the long term with their businesses to recognise global opportunities, whilst delivering superior services to consumers. I have been incredibly impressed with Invus’ insight and I’m looking forward to working closely with them to deliver our vision, that ClearScore will become an indispensable financial partner to millions more users around the world."
