Series D+6 October 2021

Smart secures Series D investment from DWS as part of a £165m raise

DWS joins an investor syndicate led by Chrysalis Investments to back the retirement technology provider.

£165MSeries D+

Smart provides a global retirement technology platform that powers workplace pensions and partners with major financial institutions internationally. Its technology serves close to a million savers.

Smart has secured an investment from DWS as part of its Series D funding round, adding to previous backing from Chrysalis Investments. DWS joins a group of institutional backers that includes Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Legal & General Investment Management, Link Group, and Natixis Investment Managers.

The capital supports the company as it expands its retirement technology platform internationally. Smart currently serves nearly a million savers and expects to scale that figure significantly over the coming years.

From the founder

"Alongside our other strategic investors, we are delighted to announce DWS Group as an investor in Smart. We’re delighted by their recognition of Smart’s journey to date, and the huge additional opportunity ahead of us in the $55trn global retirement savings market, means they’re joining us as an investor and partner to help fuel our global growth as a wave of legislative change sweeps the world. Our mission is ‘to transform retirement, savings and financial wellbeing, across all generations, around the world’. With strategic partners like DWS Group, and our existing stable of investors, we are in a great place to continue executing to deliver on that, providing governments, financial institutions, employers and savers across the world with a better financial future."

Will Wynne

Co-founder at Smart

Investor perspective

"We are looking forward to delivering on the opportunity to work with an innovative retiretech disruptor that is fast-growing and well-placed to compete both in the UK and global retirement market. Increasingly, defined contribution savers are seeking to diversify their returns across a broader range of asset classes, and we believe that DWS’ asset management capabilities across both private and listed markets means that we are ideally placed to meet their evolving needs"