Plum hits crowdfund target in just eight hours, raises £1.7m

Smart money app Plum has overfunded on its third crowdfund, hitting its target of £1m in just eight hours.

Coming in at a final total of more than £1.7m from more than 4000 investors, the money raised on Crowdcube adds on to a £5m debt round led by Silicon Valley Bank just a few weeks ago.

With a combination of new and returning investors, Plum users and Plum newbies, CEO Victor Trokoudes told AltFi it was reassuring to see so many people put their trust in the company.

“There's a lot of uncertainty out there,” Trokoudes said.

“So it was very comforting to see that so many people believed in what we're doing and the longevity of it, and also appreciated and followed [us] based on what we said we were going to deliver and that we did deliver those things.”

Over the past year since Plum’s last crowdfund it has launched commission-free investing, enabled crypto trading, launched a debit card and expanded into new European markets – a strong signal to its 10,011 investors that it was committed to using the nearly £6.5m wisely.

“I think it's just a testament to what we've done and how big this really can be if you zoom out of the day-to-day of ‘Yes, there's a lot of uncertainty now’,” Trokoudes said. 

“Fundamentally, there will be a few large financial institutions across the UK and Europe that will help people with their money and hold large sums of money for people, and I think this was kind of a vote of confidence.”

Trokoudes noted that it was encouraging for both the business and the employees to see thousands of people are still willing to put money in to support them 

“It's always a bit different if a VC gives you money and they have an economic interest in mind and that's what they want to do they have targets etc.,” he said. 

“Whereas it's different when retail investors en mass are saying look, I'm gonna put £500, £600 or £1000 of my hard-earned money and support this business that I believe is doing a great job.”

With the fresh funding, Plum is looking to continue establishing itself in Europe after a year of working hard to grow and understand the markets better.

It will also look to continue investing in its people, ensuring that the products that went “from zero to one” now turn into “very compelling propositions” for customers. 

“Our mission is to make wealth building automatic, which is a combination of meaning, it should feel easy enough that it's like an automatic process that's running in the background – it doesn't mean that we automate everything, but it means that we give you the data that you need, and the insights and the tools to automate your financial life,” Trokoudes said.

“So I'm really excited that we've now launched these products, it's been this big year, but there's a big journey ahead to make these products work collaboratively together, to deliver on that mission. 

“And doing that across Europe, I think is going to be amazing.”