HSBC and Goldman Sachs take part in Bud’s £15m fundraise
HSBC and Goldman Sachs are among the City heavyweights that have taken part in a $20m (£15m) funding round for money management app Bud.
The fintech firm, which was already backed by HSBC, said on Monday that it would use the proceeds from its Series A fundraise to move ahead with its growth plans. This will include hiring new staff and investing in Open Banking technology.
Other investors in this latest funding round include ANZ, Banco Sabadell and Investec, as well as Lord Fink, the former chief executive of hedge fund Man Group, and 9yards Capital.
Bud’s chief executive Edward Maslaveckas said that he hopes to double the firm’s workforce from 70 to 140 people by the end of 2019.
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“This investment…is proof that we’re going in the right direction,” said Maslaveckas. “Proof that some of the world’s most forward-thinking investors think that our model (and our execution on it), represents a real opportunity to change the way people deal with money.”
Last year, Bud launched the Bud Exchange, an app-accessible platform which allows users to access the Bud marketplace, where they can invest in different products, including peer-to-peer loans.
Maslaveckas confirmed that Bud’s platform currently has 85 providers ready to make their services available through the network, including leading P2P lenders Zopa and RateSetter.
Bud is currently advertising for a number of new roles, including an Android developer, a tech talent recruiter, and a QA automation engineer.
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