U.K. fintech Tide joins the unicorn club with a new round of funding worth $120 million backed by TPG, as the startup now has over 1.6 million micro and small businesses across the world — out of which more than half are in India, the firm’s biggest and fastest-growing marketplace.
The latest round — part primary and part secondary investment, though the startup refused to disclose the specific breakdown — places a value of $1.5 billion on the eight-year-old startup. It incorporates sales of shares by employees, early angels, and some minority investors. TPG supported the round via its multi-sector impact fund, The Rise Fund, which has invested in more than 85 mission-oriented businesses. Apax Digital Funds, an existing investor, also joined in UK fintech company Tide
Globally, micro and small businesses, such as contractors, freelancers, and solopreneurs, allocate considerable time to business administration activities such as accounting, invoicing, taxes, obtaining loans, and handling payments and expenses. Though conventional banks and fintech startups provide services to this group, they are not specifically designed for their specific requirements. Tide wants to do better with its single business platform, providing customized tools like accounting integrations, invoicing, business loans, asset finance, payroll, expense cards, and even registering a company.
It started up in the U.K. in 2017, Tide launched in India in December 2022 to draw on the nation’s extensive pool of small businesses — some 60 million micro and small firms employing more than 250 million individuals, according to the latest Indian government statistics. Since launching, Tide has added over 800,000 Indian businesses, which it calls “members” — beating its U.K. member count of almost 800,000. In the U.K., where the company is already profitable, Tide covers about 14% of the nation’s market for small and medium businesses.
“There is a huge trend to formalization. So, our biggest enemy is cash, and not any competitors,” CEO of Tide, Oliver Prill, said during an interview.
In India, there’s an argument, because the growth rate slowed a bit, but it’s still a phenomenally great growth rate. You compare continental Europe or the U.K., the growth rate is much lower,” he said to TechCrunch.
Four million micro and small firms are estimated by Tide to be started in India annually. These firms generally require assistance with such issues as access to formal credit, the acceptance of Indian government-guaranteed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for payment, and complying with the country’s indirect taxation regime, the Goods and Services Tax. Tide assists them through its online platform, which is accessed as an iOS and Android app.