UK-based fintech startup Atom Bank secures £50m in funding

Atom bank, the UK challenger bank built exclusively for mobile, has raised £50 million in its most recent funding round. The round saw participation from BBVA, Toscafund, Woodford Patient Capital Trust and funds advised by Perscitus LLP.

Atom will use the fresh funds to accelerate growth and continue investing in its technology. This latest funding round brings Atom’s total funding to £450 million.

Although the company is currently making a loss, Atom’s chairman; Bridget Rosewell, is certain that the bank is on track to be a fast-growing challenger to the UK’s lending banks: “This latest raise recognises the enormous progress that we have made on our journey to disrupt UK banking”. 

Today, Atom says it is receiving up to £20 million of business and £10 million of residential mortgage applications every week. The bank has seen impressive growth. Over the last year its total lending for homeowners and small businesses has grown by 76 percent to £2.4 billion. In the same period, the bank has seen growth in deposits go from £1.4 billion to £1.8 billion.

The majority of this round’s capital will go towards re-platforming the bank into the cloud and preparing for the launch of the company’s new products. These products will use Thought Machine’s smart contract core banking technology. Thought Machine’s Vault product has cryptographic ledgers for watertight security and comes with a full range of retail banking products, all of which are realised with a system of smart contracts. Alongside these developments, the bank is working with Newcastle University to develop a blockchain-based system for mortgage applications. 

Mark Mullen, Chief Executive Officer at Atom has also revealed the startup’s plans to grow the bank’s team in the North East. He said that Atom “will add 50 new roles this year to help us expand the range of products and services we offer, starting with Instant Access savings in the autumn”.