Beringea, the transatlantic venture capital investor, today announces it has led a £9m investment in AccessPay, a Manchester-based fintech firm. The funding round, backed also by US investors True Ventures and Route 66, is one of the largest ever investments in a financial technology company in the North. Maria Wagner, Investment Director at Beringea, led the deal.
The investment also marks the expansion of Beringea’s footprint in the North of England, as the firm has launched its first dedicated office in the region in central Manchester. This expanded presence will enable Beringea to work more closely with the region’s scaling businesses and provide capital to support the acceleration of the region’s digital economy.
AccessPay was founded in Manchester in 2012 and it has quickly grown into an established leader in fintech. Its platform enables finance and treasury teams to achieve significant cost and efficiency savings, as well as security improvements around global payments and cash management. The platform connects corporate back-end systems with global banking and financial services providers.
Today AccessPay is used by more than 500 corporate clients across the UK including Barclays, the AA, and ITV and processes over 40 million transactions a year. It will use this investment to expand its sales, marketing and engineering teams and further develop its software platform. It is the fastest growing fintech company outside of London, according to the Deloitte Fast 50 rankings.
The business is led by Anish Kapoor, a highly experienced entrepreneur who has previously built a number of multimillion-dollar technology companies. He was the co-founder of TeleCity, Europe’s largest data centre operator, leading the business to its listing on the London Stock Exchange at a valuation of $700m in 2000. It was recently acquired for $3.6bn by a US acquirer.
Anish Kapoor, CEO of AccessPay, commented: “The world of banking and financial management has changed and continues to do so at pace. Legislation, customer demand and rapid advances in technology, mean the choice of banking and financial services providers available to finance and treasury teams, especially those looking to transform their operations, is greater than ever before.
“The problem we continue to see are these services operating in total isolation to one another, which often means the corporate is faced with exposure to security, greater risk and complexity in day-to-day operations. Connecting these services through our platform, removes these issues and enables the change finance and treasury teams are looking for.
“From the outset of our conversations, Beringea has recognised this challenge and the opportunity it presents for AccessPay to grow its market share, in the UK and beyond, and helping us with our mission of transforming finance and treasury teams.”
Maria Wagner, Investment Director at Beringea, commented on the deal: “Beringea seeks to back thoroughbreds that can become lasting successes. Corporate payments have not seen the same level of innovation as consumer payments. AccessPay’s platform solves a big pain point for large corporates. We were really impressed with the team and Anish’s leadership and we look forward to joining them on this journey to harness a global market opportunity.”
Beringea has expanded its presence in the North by establishing a Manchester office at WeWork in St Peter’s Square. This will enable the firm to tap into the thriving network of scaling technology companies and help accelerate the rise of the Northern digital economy.
The Manchester office is led by Marc Shirman, former co-head of Muzinich & Co.’s UK private capital fund and now Investment Director at Beringea. Marc will be supported by Steven Tuckley and Anne O’Loughlin who have longstanding connections with the firm’s portfolio of Northern companies and the wider investment community.
Marc Shirman, Investment Director and Head of Beringea’s recently established Northern office commented: “Manchester has an exceptional and rapidly growing fintech sector that we want to support. Great companies like AccessPay contribute immensely to the ambition of the North to be a global tech hub. Beringea will seek to provide the capital, expertise and transatlantic network to support the North’s entrepreneurs as they scale to become international success stories.”
AccessPay is part of a thriving ecosystem of digital businesses in the North driving economic growth, fuelling job creation and attracting investment. Analysis by GP Bullhound showed the 100 fastest growing digital businesses in the North of England and Scotland generated revenues of £4.5bn in 2017, more than double the previous year. This latest round for AccessPay brings its total funding to over £13m and its headcount has grown to almost 50 employees in Manchester.
Beringea manages $500m in funds in the UK and the US with over 60 portfolio companies spanning North America and Europe. It has previously backed several entrepreneurial companies in the North of England including ResponseTap, the Manchester-based marketing software business, and TH_NK, a leading digital agency based in Newcastle and Liverpool which has recently been sold to EPAM, a global software company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Beringea’s experienced investment team will continue to back similarly entrepreneurial, scaling businesses in growing sectors across the North.
