Atom Bank closes £75m pre-IPO funding round led by BBVA

After shifting to a 4-day working week last month, lender Atom Bank has raised “more than £75m” in a fresh round of funding.

The cash injection comes nearly a year after the bank raised £40m in April 2021, with today’s funding coming from existing investors BBVA and Toscafund along with Infinity Investment Partners.

Atom described the raise as part of its “drive to IPO” for which CEO Mark Mullen has previously set “financial year 2022/23 as our IPO target”.

As part of the round Atom Bank was valued at £435m, with new equity priced at 70p per share.

Today Mullen described the past 12 months as being “a year of excellent progress” for Atom, with its mortgage and business lending having grown by 30 per cent in the last nine months.

In August 2021 the bank hit £3bn in mortgage lending and in October 2021 it reached £1bn in SME lending.

Atom has also long said 2022 would be a milestone for reaching profitability, that the bank said today it’s close to achieving with its first monthly operating profit during Q2.

“Our investors are now backing our continued growth,” said Mullen. 

“This capital will allow Atom to build on the progress we have made, and to keep offering real competition for people who want to own their own home, grow their own businesses and - at a time of rapidly rising costs - save for the future.”

He also described it as “a fundamental next step on our journey toward IPO.”

Lastly, Atom’s shift to a 4-day working week was labelled as a success by the CEO, Mullen revealed the bank has since seen a 500 per cent increase in job applicants.