• Commercial lender Tide is in talks to raise up to £ 60million ($ 80million) in new financing, at a target valuation of nearly $ 500million, Business Insider has learned.
• Founded in 2015, Tide offers loans to small and medium-sized businesses. He took advantage of the pandemic by being approved by the UK government for coronavirus business loans.
• European finance startups had another record year for funding, with $ 9.3 billion raised in venture capital in the sector in 2020.
• Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.

The fintech industry in Europe continues to thrive, with UK commercial lender Tide the latest startup to seek new funding at a higher valuation.

Tide, which focuses on small business lending, is in talks to raise between £ 40million ($ 53million) and £ 60million ($ 80million) at a valuation of £ 350million or more ($ 467 million), according to documents seen by Business Insider.

Tide has been in contact with a number of investors both directly and through FT Partners, the investment bank facilitating the roundtable.

The company is looking for flexible commitments before Christmas before officially launching the process in January 2021, with a close expected in March.

The amount raised could change depending on investor appetite.

Founded in 2015, Tide has raised $ 114.8 million to date. The Telegraph in 2019 indexed the valuation of the company then above £ 200million ($ 267 million).

A spokesperson for Tide said, “In keeping with our long-term strategy, Tide plans to launch a Series C fundraiser in the first quarter of 2021 to fuel our next phase of growth and further establish Tide as a platform. digital finance for SMEs. However, we haven’t done so yet. discussed the size of the target increase or valuation. We’ll let the market decide. “

The spokesperson said the lender had doubled its membership to more than 300,000 and had nearly 5% of the market share.

European fintech continues to become by far the largest in venture capital investment, with $ 9.3 billion in new capital in 2020 according to annualized data from Dealroom / Atomico. The bumper increases included $ 850 million over two rounds to buy the Klarna company now pay later, and $ 500 million for the bank challenger Revolut in February.

Like other new lenders, Tide was boosted somewhat by the pandemic after being cleared to offer government-backed emergency loans to businesses in May. Under the Bounce Back program, companies were allowed to borrow up to £ 50,000 ($ 63,000) with a state guarantee and low interest rates during the pandemic.

The startup loaned out £ 50million ($ 63million) in May, but came under scrutiny for ending its use of the program after running out of money.

Unlike other UK

fintech startups

accredited with the government system, such as Starling Bank, Tide does not have a banking license and therefore cannot lend its customers’ deposits. Instead, the money was to come directly from the fintech balance sheet, which was depleted in July.

Tide hopes the new funding can strengthen its challenge to dominant banks, and it aims for a UK market share of at least 8% by 2023.

Alongside its competitor ClearBank, it won a £ 25million ($ 31million) grant from the Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) fund in November. BCR is a program funded by the UK bank RBS, and was put in place by the UK government after it bailed out the bank in 2008.

In September, Tide appointed Sir Donald Brydon as its first independent non-executive chairman as the company ramped up efforts to raise new funding.