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Tide (financial service)

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Tide Platform Limited
Company typePrivate
IndustryFinTech
PredecessorStarfish Platform Limited[1]
Founded18 May 2015; 9 years ago (2015-05-18)[1]
FounderGeorge Bevis[2][3]
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
George Bevis (founder), Oliver Prill (CEO),[4] Sir Donald Brydon (Chairman)[5]
ProductsCurrent accounts for small and medium-sized enterprises
ServicesAutomated bookkeeping, integrated invoicing, financial services, accounting software integrations[6][7]
Number of employees
250[8] (2020)
Websitewww.tide.co

Tide (Tide Platform Limited) is a UK financial technology company providing mobile-first banking services for small and medium-sized enterprises. It enables businesses to set up a current account and get instant access to various financial services (including automated bookkeeping and integrated invoicing).

Established in 2015, Tide is one of the first digital-only finance platforms in the UK to provide current accounts for businesses. As of 2020, it had offices in London (headquarters), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Hyderabad (India).[8]

History

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Tide was founded by George Bevis, who previously worked as a banker.[9] He was joined by the UK Government advisor, venture capitalist and founder of Passion Capital, Eileen Burbidge, who became the Chairman of Tide.[9]

The company was registered on May 18, 2015.[1] It received the Financial Conduct Authority’s permission to provide financial products and services in February 2016.[10] Banking services are provided by PrePay Solutions, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.[7][11] Tide became one of the first digital-only finance platforms in the UK to provide accounts for businesses.[12]

In July 2016, the company received $2 million (£1.5 million) in seed funding from Eileen Burbidge’s Passion Capital, Robin Klein’s LocalGlobe, Zoopla’s founder Alex Chesterman, Wonga founder Errol Damelin and a number of other investors.[9][13][14]

The Tide mobile app was in beta mode until the official launch in January 2017.[15][16] In March 2017, the company opened a pop-up store at London’s Old Street station.[17][18]

In July 2017, Tide secured an £11m series A investment from specialist fintech funds Anthemis and Creandum. Money was also raised from Tide’s existing investors, Passion Capital and LocalGlobe.[12][19] Alongside this, Tide announced a partnership with European online lender iwoca, to initiate its first loan program.[12][20] An integration named Tide Credit was launched in October 2017.[21][22] Tide offered credit lending of up to £150,000 directly through the app.[22]

In January 2018, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) granted Tide authorisation as an electronic money institution (Authorised Electronic Money Institution).[23] In March 2018, Tide presented a new logo and launched several product features, including a new vertical card design, updated FreeAgent integration and Team Cards.[24][25][26] Later in March 2018, George Bevis announced he intended to step down from his CEO role.[3] In August 2018, Oliver Prill, former chief operating officer at German online lender Kreditech, joined Tide as CEO.[27] Later in August 2018, Tide secured £8m in bridge funding from existing investors Anthemis, Creandum and Passion Capital, joined by new investor Augmentum Fintech.[28][27]

In September 2018, Tide argued that just £65m of the total £775m Royal Bank of Scotland bail-out fund was available for non-deposit-taking firms. CEO Oliver Prill wrote to the Treasury urging it to change the rules for the contest.[29][30] In January 2019, ClearBank announced a partnership with Tide to bid for a grant from Pool A of the Capability and Innovation Fund that formed part of RBS’s alternative remedies package.[31] Later in February 2019, Banking Competition Remedies Ltd granted ClearBank £60 million in funding from Pool A of the Capability and Innovation Fund.[32] This decision has been criticized by competitors, saying that Tide didn’t have a banking licence and stating that a £60 million grant was no more than a boost to Tide’s venture capital investors.[33]

In February 2019, Tide backed calls for a financial services tribunal for small businesses to settle disputes with their lenders.[34] In March 2019, the company announced plans to raise £60 million from investors.[35] In October of the same year, the company raised £44.1m in Series B fundraising, with the SBI Group and Augmentum Fintech leading the funding round.[36] This fundraising followed the appointment of Guy Duncan as CTO in September 2019.[37] In September 2020, Tide appointed Sir Donald Brydon as its first independent Chair.[5]

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, a great many firms required funding to cope with the financial consequences of the pandemic and the lockdowns enforced by it. As a non-bank lender, it does not hold deposits but relies on money raised from investors. Tide lent over £50m to just under 2,000 small businesses under the BBL scheme but was forced to close applications in July after running out of funds.[38][39]

Tide does not qualify for the Bank of England's term funding scheme aimed at small business lending, which enables banks to borrow cash to fund bounce back loans (BBLs) at a flat interest rate of 2.5%. The company "continued to ask" the government for access to Bank of England loans to fund further BBLs. The lack of available finance affected the 250,000 small and medium-sized businesses which were unable to use the BBL scheme earlier as they did not bank with any of the 28 accredited lenders.[38]

Products and services

[edit]
Tide app for iOS, card overview (April 2019)

Tide has created a set of finance tools for small business owners. Customers can open business current accounts straight from their mobile phone by scanning an ID and are sent a Mastercard debit card to use for business transactions.[13] Tide business service is available on iPhone and Android devices, and on desktop computers.[16]

The firm also offers an automated bookkeeping service and integrated invoicing.[16][6] Tide developed an API that allows integrations with the loan provider iwoca, and with accounting software such as Xero, FreeAgent, ReckonOne and Sage.[40] Tide was one of five fintech disruptors to launch Xero Bank Feed integration, alongside Starling Bank, TransferWise, Revolut and Soldo.[41]

Tide has partnerships with PayPoint and with the Post Office to facilitate cash deposit services.[42]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Tide Platform Limited". Companies House. 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  2. ^ Withers, Iain (2017-10-21). "Sunday interview: Digital business bank Tide 'shooting at open goal'". The Sunday Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2017-10-22. Retrieved 2019-03-16.(subscription required)
  3. ^ a b O'Hear, Steve (2018-03-22). "The founder of business banking startup Tide plans to step down as CEO". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  4. ^ Megaw, Nicholas (2019-02-22). "Metro Bank wins biggest share of RBS fund to boost competition". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-03-16.(subscription required)
  5. ^ a b Vincent, Matthew (2020-09-13). "A new City cause for Gina Miller". Financial Times. Retrieved 2020-09-13. Having spent 20 years at Barclays, chaired the London Stock Exchange and reimagined the audit profession, you'd think Sir Donald Brydon might want to slow down. Instead, this week, he became chairman of fast-growing business banking platform, Tide.(subscription required)
  6. ^ a b Rubini, Agustín (2018). "Commercial Banking Transformation". Fintech in a Flash: Financial Technology Made Easy (3d ed.). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-5474-1716-2 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ a b Judge, Ben (2018-04-20). "A new challenge for business banking". MoneyWeek. Archived from the original on 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  8. ^ a b Ballard, Oli (2020-09-09). "Who are the UK's top 32 fintech leaders?". businessleader.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2020-09-13. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  9. ^ a b c Williams-Grut, Oscar (2016-07-25). "There's a new digital-only bank and its CEO says Brexit is the 'perfect scenario' to launch". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  10. ^ "Tide Platform Limited". Financial Conduct Authority. 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  11. ^ Shapland, Mark (2018-05-08). "How digital banks are trying to shake up the City's titans". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 2018-07-11. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  12. ^ a b c Lunden, Ingrid (2017-07-03). "UK's Tide raises $14M to challenge big banks with a mobile-first service for SMBs". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  13. ^ a b Butcher, Mike (2016-07-25). "Super-fast small biz mobile banking service Tide raises $2M seed round". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  14. ^ Burn-Callander, Rebecca (2016-07-30). "Wonga and Zoopla founders back mobile bank start-up". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2019-03-16.(subscription required)
  15. ^ Kirton, Hayley (2017-01-31). "New small business account, Tide, launches today". City A.M. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  16. ^ a b c Butcher, Mike (2017-01-31). "Smart SMB bank Tide comes out of the gate with bags of features". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  17. ^ "Tide Bank goes underground to raise profile". IBS Intelligence. 2017-03-06. Archived from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  18. ^ Borri, Anais (2017). "Turning the Tide". Fintech Age (Spring 2017): 8–9. Retrieved 2019-03-16 – via issuu.
  19. ^ Hodgson, Camilla (2017-07-04). "Banking startup Tide raises $14 million to 'give small businesses back their time'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  20. ^ Lee, Peter (2017-07-14). "Fintech: Incumbents and disruptors all want a piece of iwoca". Euromoney. Archived from the original on 2019-03-17. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  21. ^ Weeks, Ryan (2017-10-10). "Fintech lender launches API, partners with digital bank". altfi.com. Archived from the original on 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  22. ^ a b "No more waiting for the credit you deserve". Tide. 2017-11-14. Archived from the original on 2019-03-17. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  23. ^ "Tide Platform Limited". Financial Conduct Authority. 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-03-17. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  24. ^ McLaughlin, Aimée (2018-03-20). "The vertical debit card design reflecting "how people bank today"". Design Week. Archived from the original on 2018-03-20. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  25. ^ Andreasyan, Tanya (2018-03-21). "UK regulator grants Tide e-money authorisation". bankingtech.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-21. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  26. ^ Nicolle, Emily (2018-03-21). "Tide gets FCA-authorised, launches new card and integrations". altfi.com. Archived from the original on 2019-03-17. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
  27. ^ a b Field, Matthew (2018-12-10). "Start-up business bank Tide doubles accounts as it eyes new funding". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
  28. ^ Osborn, Theo. "Tide secures £8m of funding". specialistbanking.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-03-20. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  29. ^ Withers, Iain (2018-09-30). "Digital start-ups complain they're being frozen out of £775m RBS remedies contest". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2019-03-22.(subscription required)
  30. ^ "Tide calls on HM Treasury to allow non-banks to compete for RBS bail out cash". finextra.com. 2018-10-01. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25.
  31. ^ Cockar, Maryam. "Challenger bank Tide teams up with ClearBank for RBS fund". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 2019-03-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  32. ^ Makortoff, Kalyeena; Jolly, Jasper (2019-02-22). "Metro Bank wins lion's share of RBS-funded competition scheme". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2019-02-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  33. ^ English, Simon (2019-03-20). "Tide turns Royal Bank of Scotland handout to farce as critics cry foul". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 2019-03-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  34. ^ Cockar, Maryam. "Challenger bank Tide backs calls for SME tribunal". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 2019-02-10. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  35. ^ Griffiths, Katherine (2019-03-11). "Tide turns to investors once again". The Times. Archived from the original on 2019-03-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.(subscription required)
  36. ^ Boscia, Stefan (2019-10-07). "Tide secures £44.1m in 'one of the largest ever' fintech series B funding rounds". City A.M. Archived from the original on 2019-10-08. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  37. ^ Smith, Oliver (2019-10-15). "Tide hires BMW's Guy Duncan as new chief technology officer". altfi.com. Archived from the original on 2020-05-21. Retrieved 2020-09-13.
  38. ^ a b "Bounce-Back Loans Shaky After Funding Loss By UK FinTech Lender Tide". PYMNTS.com.
  39. ^ Menin, Anna (2020-11-09). "Confusion reigns ahead of introduction of Bounce Back Loan top-ups". City A.M. Archived from the original on 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  40. ^ Lee, Peter (2018-03-16). "Iwoca's growth shows SME hunger for credit as banks withdraw". Euromoney. Archived from the original on 2019-03-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  41. ^ McLoughlin, Beth (2018-11-21). "How technology is changing the face of accounting". Accountancy Age. Archived from the original on 2018-11-22. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  42. ^ Courtez, Jack (2018-07-02). "PayPoint and Post Office add Tide banking services". betterretailing.com. Archived from the original on 2019-03-22. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
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