Sending a bouquet of flowers to surprise someone is a lovely idea. But, is it actually sustainable or should you feel guilty about adding to your carbon footprint?
BurdaPrincipal Investments (BPI), the growth capital arm of Hubert Burda Media, has expanded its investments into the fintech space and participated in the current funding round of the saving and investing app Moneybox. Earlier this year, BPI also invested in Singapore-based Stash Away, a digital wealth manager for both retail and accredited investors.
“While BPI has a clear focus on marketplaces and platforms, we expanded our focus into the fintech industry by concentrating on business models that require no or a minimum of regulated equity amount only."
Christian Teichmann, Managing Director of BPI
BPI identified four key trends to capitalise on: Low customer trust for incumbents, the democratization of access to financial data, the multitude of underserved segments, and the re-bundling of financial services.
“Moneybox in the UK and Stash Away in Singapore are perfect examples for our investment thesis in the fintech space as both companies reimagine the way of doing business in their respective segments."
Christian Teichmann, Managing Director of BPI
Incumbent wealth managers have traditionally focused on high-net-worth and affluent customers to build large and profitable businesses. However, over 20 million individuals in the UK have not necessarily received wealth management education or guidance. Yet, these individuals have clear savings missions, such as planning for a life event or buying a property. In addition, the recent profound reforms in the UK pensions market have meant that most are now responsible for material amounts of capital.
Moneybox’s mission is to help everyone save and invest for their future. Offering a range of products to suit different savings needs, the company uses technology to enable customers to set money aside in the way that suits them. Through an intelligently designed customer journey, Moneybox makes it easy to get started, then provides the tools and information people need to confidently work towards their financial goals - whether that’s saving for a first home, retirement or investing for the future. This is all brought together in a service that is simple and enjoyable to use. The company’s focus on building a trusted brand, designing accessible saving and passive investing propositions, as well as delivering a best-in-class CX through ease-of-use, personalisation, and flawless support, has made it a mass-market champion. Today Moneybox has over 500,000 customers and a team of over 170 people in the UK.
“Moneybox is led by two repeat entrepreneurs: Ben Stanway, also co-founder of Bloom & Wild, another exciting company in our portfolio, and Charlie Mortimer, who previously founded and sold a personal finance business to Moneysupermarket. We’re thrilled to be part of this journey and join a very strong group of investors including Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, Breega, Open CNP, and Oxford Capital."
Christian Teichmann, Managing Director of BPI
In July 2020, Singapore-based Stash Away raised US$16 million in a series C round led by Australian VC major Square Peg. BurdaPrincipal Investments participated in the funding round alongside the existing investor Eight Roads Ventures
Stash Away was founded in 2016 and operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the UAE. The startup is a digital wealth management platform that offers investment and cash management portfolios for both retail and accredited investors. Its technology provides automated and personalized portfolio management, targeting different levels of risk.
The firm offers global growth-oriented investment portfolios targeting different levels of risk — yield-focused Income Portfolio, and straightforward cash management solution Stash Away Simple.
Currently, Stash Away employs 85 people across five countries.