The business financial platform Tide has become one of the latest to be selected to join Tech Nation’s Future Fifty programme, designed to bring together, empower and accelerate the growth of the most prominent tech companies in the UK.
Tech Nation is partly funded by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and is charged with fuelling the growth of the UK’s leading tech companies. The Future Fifty programme offers peer-to-peer learning, masterclasses and sessions with Government officials and ministers. Household names such as Monzo, Bulb, Deliveroo, and Zoopla have previously been accepted into the programme.
Tide’s inclusion in the Future Fifty programme comes as the financial platform sees its biggest year of growth since launching over five years ago.
Tide has now surpassed a 5% share of the SME banking market, with almost 330,000 member businesses, and nearly 400,000 business accounts. Between April 2020 to April 2021, Tide more than doubled its member base. Unlike many of the high street banks, Tide continued to open accounts for new members throughout 2020 and adapted its offering to cater for the changing needs of UK small businesses.
Tide will be one of the majority of businesses accepted into the Future Fifty that comes from the fintech and insurtech industries, suggesting these sectors are fuelling the growth of UK tech and driving economic recovery.
“It has become clear over the last year that the ability of technology companies and specifically fintechs, to be nimble and adapt to the changing needs of customers is crucial to continued growth in the toughest of times,” Oliver Prill, Tide CEO commented.
“I am delighted that Tide will be joining Tech Nation’s Future Fifty programme as collaboration and shared learning is essential to driving the continued growth of UK tech. At Tide, we have recognised the value in moving away from the traditional digital banking play, towards becoming an all-encompassing financial platform. As small business owners become more stretched they need smart, automated solutions more than ever,” Oliver continues.
Over the last year, Tide has recognised the hardship faced by many small businesses and has adapted to support them in the best possible way.
Tide Charity was set up to give grants to the hardest-hit businesses, in addition, Tide Masterclasses were stepped up to deliver expert advice and support for the issues businesses are facing.
Tide’s product offering has also developed quickly to maximise members’ ability to automate admin tasks as much as possible. Through advanced connectivity chains, small business owners are reducing the time and effort spent on banking and admin through tools that automatically chase late payments, match invoices to payments received, predict cash flow and allow the quick and easy management of team members’ spending.
