By - Uncapped raises $80 million in new funding that will enable the company to build a wider financial ecosystem tailored to the needs of digital entrepreneurs
- The latest round was led by Lakestar, with participation from all existing investors, and brings the total capital raised by the company to $120 million
LONDON, 20th May 2021. Uncapped, a London-based startup changing the way online companies fund their growth and inventory costs, has today raised $80 million of debt and equity in a new funding round that will enable the company to move beyond lending by launching a suite of new banking services tailored to the needs of digital entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2019, Uncapped has sprung to popularity as an alternative to traditional debt financing and venture capital. The company provides founders with growth finance for a flat fee as low as 6%, and capital can be released in as little as a day. Businesses only repay the capital as they make revenue with no set repayment and no compounding interest, equity or personal guarantees, and there are no credit checks or business plans required.
With the latest capital injection, Uncapped plans to move deeper in the banking space, with a host of new products and services due to launch in the near future. The company is specifically looking to solve problems around financial visibility, access to cash flow, access to third-party data, as well as an expansion of their range of credit products. Last year, the company began issuing Visa cards to enable founders to spend their capital, and the company intends to expand on this offering.
Piotr Pisarz, Co-Founder of Uncapped, said: “Digital companies are innovating and evolving faster than ever before, but their legacy banking providers are not keeping up with the pace. We want to help digital entrepreneurs with quick access to funding, insights that help their business grow, rewards they actually care about, and modern integrations that will save them time and money.”
Asher Ismail, Co-Founder of Uncapped, said: “The reality is that legacy banks don’t really understand the needs of digital entrepreneurs, and their dated infrastructure is not up to the standards required to help their business grow. So it’s no surprise that 82% of business owners say they are unhappy with their bank. This is a huge problem and, as digital entrepreneurs ourselves, we’re best placed to solve it.”
Nicolas Brand, Partner at Lakestar, said: “The composition of our economies is changing, with digital native businesses contributing an ever increasing share to overall GDP. Uncapped uses real time data provided by its clients across APIs to offer bespoke credit and other novel banking services. We are proud to be partnering with Piotr and Asher on their journey to change how funding and banking in a digital economy works.”
The company will also use the capital to increase its headcount from 35 to 100 people by the end of the year, with a particular focus on engineering and product roles. While the company operates on a fully remote basis, most employees are situated in the UK, Germany and Poland.
Notes for Editors
About Uncapped
Founded in 2019, Uncapped is the fastest, most affordable way for growing online businesses to fund marketing and inventory. The company was born out of frustration with the limited financing options available for UK and European entrepreneurs to finance growth.
Uncapped provides business advances of between £10k and £5m without credit checks, personal guarantees, warrants, equity, or compounding interest. It makes money by charging a low flat fee which is paid back from future sales revenue.
Uncapped has previously raised $40m from investors including Mouro Capital, Global Founders Capital, White Star Capital, Seedcamp, and All Iron Ventures.
Founder Biographies
Asher Ismail
Asher was named Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017. He’s led multiple startups and raised capital from angels, VC, and crowdfunding. Along the way, he gave away more equity than he sometimes wanted and experienced the risk associated with debt. Prior to Uncapped, he was CEO at Midrive (now part of The AA), General Manager at Moneysupermarket and part of the early team at Skype. Asher is also a Board Member of Tech London Advocates (TLA) and Founder of InterTech Diversity Forum, organisations dedicated to improving the strength and diversity of the UK tech sector.
Piotr Pisarz
Piotr built a successful career in Venture Capital working with funds such as DN Capital and backing and growing European leaders including Finata, Divido, and Trussle. Prior to that, he spent four years at Google supporting top country managers to deliver growth. Outside of Uncapped, Piotr is co-founder of VEECEE.London, the largest organisation for emerging venture capital managers in London, which aims to educate the next generation of investors.Flora Daviesflora.davies@missive.co.uk07542368274www.missive.co.uk
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