ClearBank raises £175m to continue global expansion

The UK’s next-generation clearing and embedding banking platform, ClearBank, has raised £175m in a round led by Apax Digital.

The investment will be used to globally expand what was the UK’s first new clearing bank in 250 years.

The digital investment arm of Apax led the round, and existing investors CFFI UK Ventures and PPF Financial Holdings also participated.

The UK’s fastest-growing tech company, according to Deloitte’s 2021 UK Technology Fast 50 awards, ClearBank serves more than 200 financial institutions and fintech customers, with 13 million accounts and £3bn in balances. 

Its customers include Tide,Coinbase,Chip and Oaknorth Bank.

The investment will help accelerate the banking platform’s ambition to use its single API cloud-native embedded banking platform to power services for both financial institutions and non-financial brands. 

It will also help the company expand its range of products and services in order to support customers scaling internationally, as well as new customers across markets.

“Our revenue growth is the proof of the momentum we have been gathering since 2017,”  ClearBank CEO Charles McManus said. 

“It is this proof point and our transformative effect on access to banking services [...] which has given us the credibility to partner with and deliver seamless and secure embedded banking for award-winning financial institutions, powerful fintech disrupters and government bodies alike,” he added.

“The next challenge is delivering this innovation globally,” he said.

ClearBank is also partnering with Apax to achieve this, a company it says is the right cultural fit, with the necessary sector expertise and geographic experience.

As the growth arm of global private equity advisory firm Apax, the Apax Digital team specialises in growth equity and growth buyout investments.

“All companies are becoming fintech companies, and ClearBank is providing the clearing and embedded banking infrastructure for them – starting with fintechs themselves,” Apax Digital partner Mark Beith said.