Tandem Launches Fundraising For Expansion Plans

Startup bank Tandem is trying to secure a new investment to help its plans for overseas expansion.

Citing sources close to the bank, Financial Times reported that Tandem is in early talks with investors in hopes of securing funds within the next three months.

A spokesperson for the bank, which has around 600,000 customers, confirmed it would be looking to raise money, but gave no further details. However, the round is expected to be larger than the £80 million raised when it acquired Harrods Bank in 2017. That deal came after Tandem lost out on a £29 million cash injection from Sanpower, owner of House of Fraser.

Tandem, which focuses on savings and lending through credit cards, reported total revenues of £5.1 million in 2017, compared to £1.8 million at its rival Monzo, which was valued at £1 billion in its most recent fundraising.

Tandem is looking to expand into several countries, starting with trials in continental Europe by the end of 2019. One of the sources explained that “it would be silly to be the last mover,” especially considering the U.K.’s impending departure from the EU.

Late last month, Tandem launched a new savings account built on top of the bank’s account aggregation app as well as credit cards. It will automatically put money into a savings account based on how the customer spends and how much the algorithm determines that person can afford to save. With the automatic “Round Ups” feature, customers can round up purchases to the next pound (dollar) and Tandem will move the change into the savings account.

“We spend a huge amount of time speaking with our users, understanding the challenges they face with their money and what we can do to help,” Matt Ford, Tandem’s product and marketing director, said at the time. “A consistent theme [that] arose for many of our users was the need to save. People either felt like they were unable to save at all (as they battle through to the end of the month), or were trying to save, but spending got in the way and they were unable to reach their goals fast enough.”