Oxford Capital, the Oxford-based venture capital firm, has sold part of its investment in Moneybox, the award-winning savings and investment platform, achieving a return of up to 17x.
The return on investment comes as Apis Global Growth Fund III, a prominent investor in high-growth, impactful global financial services and technology businesses, and Amundi, Europe’s leading asset manager, join Moneybox’s investor base.
Together, their combined investment is worth c.£70 million and will mainly be facilitated through a secondary share sale, which includes some of Oxford Capital’s shares in Moneybox.
Oxford Capital retains the majority of its shares, with Moneybox’s valuation now £550 million – an 84% increase since its Series D round in March 2022. Oxford Capital remains one of the largest shareholders in Moneybox.
Moneybox achieved its first full year of profitability over a year ago and recently surpassed £10 billion in assets under administration (AUA). In the last fiscal year alone, the business has successfully scaled revenues by 168% and AUA per customer by 46%.
Moneybox supports more than 1 million customers across the UK to save, invest, buy their first homes, and plan for a comfortable retirement. It is poised for continued success, driven by a clear mission to help people achieve their financial goals and build wealth with confidence.
Oxford Capital has backed Ben Stanway and Charlie Mortimer, the founders of Moneybox, since the company’s earliest stages. Oxford Capital led Moneybox’s seed round in 2016, before it had any customers, and has invested in every funding round since.
Oxford Capital’s initial investment was via its Oxford Capital EIS Fund, which specialises in investing in early-stage UK technology companies. As Moneybox grew, Oxford Capital offered access to later rounds to members of its Co-Investor Circle, enabling them to invest directly into the business alongside institutional shareholders.
Investors who backed Moneybox via Oxford Capital benefited from the tax advantages of EIS, including 30% income tax relief, CGT deferral, Business Relief and more. As the investments have been held for more than three years, gains are tax free.
David Mott, founder partner of Oxford Capital, said: ‘We are thrilled with the brilliant success that Ben Stanway, Charlie Mortimer and their team are making of Moneybox. The company is backed by a great syndicate of investors and the £550 million valuation reflects the high-quality of the business.
“Moneybox is a great example of our strategy for EIS investing. We pick companies early, accepting the high risk profile. We work closely with the founders to support the take-off phase, establish governance, fine-tune the business model and build partnerships with other investors.
“Once we see a company take off, we usually have the opportunity to invest again and deploy more capital both from our EIS fund and via our Co-Investor Circle, offering access to off-market high-quality investment opportunities in which our conviction has grown.
“We continue to back Ben and Charlie as they scale up Moneybox to build one of the largest wealth management platforms in the UK. Moneybox still has a long way to go to realise its potential. Taking some profit at this stage makes sense for our clients while leaving the majority of their investment to run for the longer term.’
Ben Stanway, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Moneybox, commented, “We are incredibly proud of the journey we’ve been on with Oxford Capital, from the very early days of Moneybox through to this exciting milestone. Their support and belief in our vision from day one has been invaluable, and we look forward to continuing our close partnership as we move into the next stage of our journey.”
About Oxford Capital: Oxford Capital is a specialist investment manager focused on high-potential investments in early and growth stage UK technology companies. With over 25 years of experience, we invest in sectors such as digital health, fintech, and artificial intelligence and have a strong focus on delivering value to our investors. We have invested more than £500m across more than 100 EIS-qualifying companies.
About the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the UK Venture Capital sector: The Enterprise Investment Scheme was established in 1994 to encourage investment into small companies with the potential for high growth. The scheme has helped over 56,000 UK companies raise £32 billion. It is an important factor making the UK’s startup ecosystem the most vibrant in Europe. The UK has more unicorn companies than any of its EU partners – more than France and Germany combined. The UK is the third largest venture capital market in the world after the USA and China.
About Moneybox:
Moneybox is the award-winning app on a mission to help people build wealth with confidence so they can enjoy life, today and tomorrow. Launched in 2016 by co-founders Ben Stanway and Charlie Mortimer, the company has experienced rapid growth, and today has over £10bn in assets and a community of more than 1 million customers. Moneybox provides a range of great value products and services across saving, investing, home-buying, and retirement as well as helpful tools and educational content to help people manage and achieve their short, mid, and longer-term financial goals. Moneybox enables customers to set money aside in the way that suits them best using round-ups, regular deposits, or instant payments. In March 2022 Moneybox raised £35m in a Series D funding round, led by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, existing investors Oxford Capital, CNP, Burda and Breega, plus new investor Polar Capital. The business reported its first full year of profitability in 2023.
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