Uncapped, a London-based startup changing the way online companies fund their growth and inventory costs, has today raised $80 million of debt and equity in a new funding round that will enable the company to move beyond lending by launching a suite of new banking services tailored to the needs of digital entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2019, Uncapped has sprung to popularity as an alternative to traditional debt financing and venture capital. The company provides founders with growth finance for a flat fee as low as 6%, and capital can be released in as little as a day. Businesses only repay the capital as they make revenue with no set repayment and no compounding interest, equity or personal guarantees, and there are no credit checks or business plans required.
With the latest capital injection, Uncapped plans to move deeper in the banking space, with a host of new products and services due to launch in the near future. The company is specifically looking to solve problems around financial visibility, access to cash flow, access to third-party data, as well as an expansion of their range of credit products. Last year, the company began issuing Visa cards to enable founders to spend their capital, and the company intends to expand on this offering.
Piotr Pisarz, Co-Founder of Uncapped, said: “Digital companies are innovating and evolving faster than ever before, but their legacy banking providers are not keeping up with the pace. We want to help digital entrepreneurs with quick access to funding, insights that help their business grow, rewards they actually care about, and modern integrations that will save them time and money.”
Asher Ismail, Co-Founder of Uncapped, said: “The reality is that legacy banks don’t really understand the needs of digital entrepreneurs, and their dated infrastructure is not up to the standards required to help their business grow. So it’s no surprise that 82% of business owners say they are unhappy with their bank. This is a huge problem and, as digital entrepreneurs ourselves, we’re best placed to solve it.”
Nicolas Brand, Partner at Lakestar, said: “The composition of our economies is changing, with digital native businesses contributing an ever increasing share to overall GDP. Uncapped uses real time data provided by its clients across APIs to offer bespoke credit and other novel banking services. We are proud to be partnering with Piotr and Asher on their journey to change how funding and banking in a digital economy works.”
The company will also use the capital to increase its headcount from 35 to 100 people by the end of the year, with a particular focus on engineering and product roles. While the company operates on a fully remote basis, most employees are situated in the UK, Germany and Poland.