Augmentum Fintech fund backs online will-writing platform
AUGMENTUM Fintech has invested £4m in an online will-writing platform.
The fintech investment trust, which has a stake in P2P lender Zopa, led a £7.5m fundraising round for Farewill.
As well as online will-writing, Farewill offers will management and probate services and aims to be the first major consumer brand in death services.
The rest of the financial backing came from investors including DMG Ventures, SaatchInvest and Kindred Capital.
The investment will allow Farewill to expand its team and boost its offering and customer support, Augmentum Fintech said in a stock market update.
“Securing pre and post-death services is an archaic and painful process,” Tim Levene, chief executive of Augmentum Fintech, said.
“There is little competition in a sector untouched by digital, with inefficiencies and pricing that reflect these market characteristics. There is a considerable opportunity in this space where Farewill are incredibly well positioned”.
Augmentum Fintech has been on an investment spree of late.
Last year, the fund invested £2.5m in residential rent-to-own specialist Unmortgage and £5.3m into mobile-only current account provider Monese. It also invested £3m into small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) challenger bank Tide, £2m in supplier payment firm Previse and £2m in company information platform DueDil.
Augmentum Fintech was launched by Augmentum Capital, a venture capital (VC) firm backed by Lord Rothschild’s RIT Capital Partners, in March 2018.
The VC firm already had a 7.4 per cent holding in Zopa worth £18.5m that was transferred into the investment company portfolio.
It is currently trading on a discount to NAV of 0.7 per cent.
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