London digital lender Zopa bags £75m for dealmaking push

Digital lender Zopa today said it had raised £75m as it looks to kick off a major growth push and flurry of dealmaking in the coming months.

The London-based fintech said the fresh funding round would be used to meet the capital requirements of its “growing balance sheet” as well as fund a major acquisition push that could begin as early as this quarter.

A spokesperson declined to offer a valuation figure for the deal but said it “markedly enhances Zopa Bank’s unicorn status”. The firm most recently raised $300m in late 2021 at a valuation of $1bn.

A boost to its valuation would buck a slump in the market which has seen prominent fintech firms suffer major valuation ‘haircuts’. Jaidev Janardana, chief of Zopa said the equity round “reaffirms the support” of its investors despite a “challenging economic environment”. 

“It is a clear validation of Zopa’s responsible, sustainable and profitable approach to lending, our strong unit economics, and our vision to build Britain’s best bank,” Janardana said.

“Our business remains resilient with record loan origination volumes, stable credit performance comparable to pre-pandemic levels and continued innovation,” he added.  

Janardana told City A.M. exclusively earlier this month that the bank was expecting revenues for 2022 to have surged by around 130 per cent from the £70.5m it bagged in 2021. 

Zopa’s dealmaking ambitions come amid a downturn in the market that has fuelled predictions of a wave of dealmaking, as bigger firms scoop up rivals on the cheap.

Since launching in 2020, the firm has attracted £3bn in deposits, more than £2bn of loans on balance sheet and issued more than 400,000 credit cards.