Pre-Seed27 October 2022

Sidekick secures £3.3m pre-seed funding from Octopus Ventures to expand investment platform

The round was led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Seedcamp and Semantic to support app development and regulatory approval.

£3.3MPre-Seed

Sidekick is a wealth management platform that provides retail investors with access to financial products and services typically reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Headquartered in London, the company combines actively managed portfolios with bespoke credit lines and savings products.

Sidekick has secured £3.3m in pre-seed funding to expand its application platform and grow its asset management team. The investment round was led by Octopus Ventures, with additional participation from Seedcamp, Semantic, and a roster of angel investors including Will Neale and Michael Pennington. The capital will also support the firm as it pursues regulatory authorisation to offer managed portfolios spanning traditional equities and digital assets.

Founded earlier this year by veteran fintech entrepreneurs Matthew Ford and Peter Townsend, the company intends to bring alternative investment strategies traditionally reserved for high-net-worth individuals to the broader retail market. The raise comes amid challenging retail investment conditions, reflecting sustained investor appetite for platforms addressing structural wealth inequalities among younger generations.

From the founder

"Most retail investors have two options to build wealth: settle for passive portfolios or try to time the market and pick stocks and crypto themselves without access to the training, tools and information needed to do this effectively. This funding will allow us to build a modern app-based investment service that gives customers the same professional expertise that only high-net-worth individuals are used to. We’ve already got a stellar team in place, and we’re now excited to be working towards regulatory approval to launch over the coming months."

Matthew Ford

Co-Founder and CEO at Sidekick

Investor perspective

"We have seen a surge of interest and capital in public markets from retail investors. But investment products offered to the retail segment still lie at two extremes: higher-risk single stock picking and lower-risk index trackers / ETFs. High-Net Worths can access alternative assets whose higher-risk adjusted return profile can create significant compounding effects on wealth over time, but retail investors are largely prohibited from these due to high cheque sizes and the lack of digital tools to power and distribute these services. Sidekick solves this, and we’re delighted to support the team as they look to close the disparities in wealth creation between High-Net Worths and the broader retail investor class."

Nick Sando

Principal, Octopus Ventures