Tide, a new UK mobile-based small business banking service founded by a former Barclaycard and Zopa exec, is ramping up marketing ahead of launch by boasting it will slash the time it takes to set up an account from weeks to minutes.
In development since last year, Tide is the brainchild of CEO George Bevis, who has raised £2 million in a seed round for the project from names including Passion Capital and LocalGlobe.
Passion Capital's high-profile partner Eileen Burbidge - the UK government's special envoy for fintech - has also joined the startup as chairman.
As it gears up to move out of alpha later this year, Tide has surveyed 149 small business owners and sole traders, finding that 53% had a wait of up to two weeks to set up their business accounts, 39% two to six weeks, and eight per cent more than six weeks.
In contrast, the firm boasts that its digital signup process takes just three minutes, issuing standard business current account features such as sort code and account number, direct debits and corporate Mastercards.
The company also has no monthly, annual or setup fees, although it does charge 20 pence per Faster Payment. Meanwhile, the app has accounting and expenses tools and APIs let users build apps on top of, or integrate with, Tide. Deposits are ring-fenced at Barclays under an FCA e-money licence.