Zopa investor Augmentum Fintech raises £94m in IPO

Backed by the Rothschild Investment Trust, the new private equity portfolio will target fintech start-ups and scale-ups.

Augmentum Fintech, a new closed-ended investment company that will invest in private financial services technology businesses in the UK and Europe, has raised a total of £94m for its IPO tomorrow.

The fund originally targeted £100m for its launch with the possibility of raising up to £125m subject to demand. While the actual number is slightly short of target, the fund is a clear landmark for the fintech sector and more mainstream investor interest.

Its management Team and family members will hold 3.6 per cent of the issued share capital of the fund.

It is expected that Admission will become effective and that unconditional dealings in the Ordinary Shares will from tomorrow when the stock market opens.

Augmentum’s investment strategy is to generate capital growth over the long term through investment in a focused portfolio of fast growing and/or high potential private financial services technology businesses based predominantly in the UK and wider Europe.

It currently has a seed portfolio worth approximately £33.3m including an investment in P2P lending platform Zopa (£18.5m), Seedrs (£1.9m), Interactive Investor (£3m), BullionVault (£8.4m) and SRL Global (£1.5m).

Neil England, Chairman of Augmentum Fintech, says the fund saw strong demand from a broad range of investors for shares.

"The combination of an established, successful and hands-on management team with access to an attractive seed portfolio as well as an identified and growing pipeline of investments in the fintech space, makes this a compelling investment. We welcome our new shareholders and look forward to working with them and successfully delivering on our investment strategy,” he said.

Tim Levene, co-founder and principal of Augmentum Capital, the Company’s Investment Adviser, says the investment trust is well positioned to capitalise on  “substantial demand for post-seed venture funding” in the UK and wider Europe fintech market.

“We will continue carefully to curate a portfolio of high quality, compelling fintech investments and actively drive value creation at each business to deliver attractive risk adjusted returns over the long term for our new investors,” Levene said.

Fidante Capital acted as Sole Financial Adviser, Bookrunner and Joint Sponsor in relation to the Issue.