UK challenger bank Zopa is in talks to raise more funding before the firm seeks a public listing, according to Sky News.
Zopa reportedly in talks to raise $100m in funding
Zopa is reportedly in “detailed negotiations” with new and existing shareholders as it looks to raise around $100 million to fund its continued expansion, Sky News reports, with a number of blue-chip financial institutions involved.
A year ago, the digital bank raised $300 million (£220 million) in a funding round led by Softbank’s Vision Fund 2 in order to meet its liquid capital requirements.
In December, Zopa decided to close its P2P investments division and focus its energies and resources on its nascent banking offering.
In April this year, the bank turned a profit for the first time, claiming it is “one of the fastest digital banks to achieve profitability ever”.
The latest round of funding in the works is expected to value the bank at more than £750 million, which is similar to the valuation it achieved last year, no mean feat considering the choppy funding environment fintech has experienced in 2022.
The UK-based challenger, which focuses on savings and peer-to-peer lending, secured a full UK bank licence in 2020 and launched a range fixed term savings accounts.
