Prosper, a start-up saving and investment platform has received £2 million in funding from venture capital (VC) firm Fuel Ventures.
The investment comes as part of a broader £4 million funding round, with Prosper planning to use the money to scale its customer base and launch a private markets investment offering.
Other early-stage backers to take part in the round include sports star led VC firm The Players Fund, which invested on behalf of 60 professional sportspeople.
These include England cricket captains Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, as well as Olympic and world champions Dame Jess Ennis-Hill & Dame Sarah Storey, and gold medal cyclist Tom Pidcock.
Arsenal & Bayern Munich footballers Ben White & Serge Gnabry also backed the new fintech. Liverpool footballer Cody Gakpo took part in the round directly.
The platform also states it is looking to leverage artificial intelligence to “revolutionise” its customer experience and diversify customer investments.
Defining itself as a wealth management service, it targets high-net worth individuals, who are typically defined as owning between £1 million and £5 million in liquid assets.
Prosper states it has attracted more than £200 million in assets under administration so far.
According to its website it carries no platform fees, but charges for certain funds, including its own Prosper Standard Fund.
It also claims to offer “market beating cash savings” as well as zero fee access on 30 index funds and zero transaction fees.
The firm states that in the future it will charge a “fair” platform fee as well as “low, fair and transparent fees for any other investment products we think represent great value”.
Prosper CEO and co-founder Nick Perrett said the platform aims to shake up the wealth management sector and bring it “into the 21st century”.
“For far too long we have had a rough deal from wealth managers: high fees, or worse still hidden fees, companies that incentivise their people to sell products rather than giving us the help we need, and managing this entire process with painful PDFs and old fashioned technology,” he said.
Fuel Ventures founder Mark Pearson said the venture capital firm was attracted by the firm’s innovative use of AI to serve clients at scale. The business is making “huge waves” in the industry, he added.
Angel investors in the firm include big name backers such as Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Challenger bank Monzo and US bank Capital One have also made early-stage investments in the business.
The firm says it is led by a “proven fintech team” previously involved in businesses such as robo-adviser Nutmeg and Tandem Bank.
Robin has more than six years of experience as a financial journalist, most of which were spent at Citywire, and covers the latest developments in the investing, trading and currency transfer space. Outside of work, he enjoys reading literature and philosophy and playing the piano.
You can contact Robin at robin@goodmoneyguide.com
