Fintech company builder and investment vehicle R8 has raised $5 million in an oversubscribed fund raising round.
Spun out of cloud-based challenger Redwood Bank in 2017, R8 last year launched two companies: Mode, which provides banking and financial services to the holders of both traditional and crypto-assets, and; JGOO - a mobile payments platform providing brands with direct trading access to the Chinese market, connecting UK and European brands to Chinese shoppers and tourists. JGOO has secured partnerships with Tencent for WeChat and Alibaba for AliPay.
The funding was supplied by existing shareholders of R8, including Redwood Bank co-founder and R8 chief Jonathan Rowland, alongside a number of new investors. Prominent among these is Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, who has been appointed to the board as a non-executive director. Stone's previous investments include Slack, Pinterest and Square.
The capital will be used to grow the subsidiary businesses and to seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Says Rowland: “The fintech landscape is innovating at pace, and we need to develop a robust enough financial ecosystem to bring the full scope of banking and financial services to holders of both traditional and digital assets.
“We are delighted to have raised this investment and are thrilled to bring Biz Stone on board as we begin to further develop our vision.”