A Bristol-based fintech set up by the founder of UK lending platform Funding Circle has secured £22.5m in a pre-seed round.
Payments start-up Super Payments was established by British entrepreneur Samir Desai in a bid to disrupt an industry dominated by Visa and Mastercard.
Venture capital firm Accel – a Silicon Valley heavyweight and an early backer of Facebook – participated in the round along with LocalGlobe and Union Square Ventures. High-profile angel investors including the former chief executive of WorldPay and founder of Betfair also took part in the round.
According to law firm Osborne Clarke, which advised on the raise, it was one of the largest-ever pre-seed funding rounds in Europe.
Mr Desai said: “Businesses and shoppers have been stung by huge fees on the internet for too long, in many cases without even knowing. We believe that the simple Super app can save shoppers and businesses billions a year.
“At a time of high inflation and increases in the cost of living, redistributing the huge profits of payment and digital advertising companies back to users will significantly improve people’s lives.”
The Osborne Clarke team assisting Super Payments was led by partner and international financial services sector leader Mark Wesker, associate director James Taylor and senior associate Adam Turner.
Mr Wesker added: “The Super Payments business plan has the potential to completely change the accepted online payments model by removing payments processors from the system, which will benefit both customers and retail businesses. We are delighted to have been able to assist Samir and his team to get this new venture off the ground, and are incredibly excited for what the future may hold for Super Payments.”
Mr Desai launched Funding Circle in 2010 but stepped down as the company’s chief executive at the end of 2021, remaining as a non-executive director on its board.
Funding Circle is a global lending platform where investors lend directly to small businesses in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands. The company says it has originated £13.1bn of loans to more than 118,000 businesses, creating an estimated 135,000 jobs.
