Vision Fund, the technology growth fund led by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, has led a $440m funding round for UK-based digital bank OakNorth, Reuters reported yesterday.
The corporate put up $390m of the funding while the rest was supplied by conglomerate Clermont Group, and the round valued OakNorth at about $2.8bn. It has now raised more than $1bn in total, according to Reuters.
OakNorth offers fixed-term savings accounts to consumers and businesses, and customers can apply for an account in minutes. It also provides business financing, and has lent in excess of £2bn ($2.6bn) to UK-based companies.
The funding will support an international expansion that will begin with the company’s entry into the US market, co-founder and chief executive Rishi Khosla told Reuters.
Khosla said: “SoftBank always has a very large vision for businesses they get involved in and for us we have a relentless focus on small businesses. For us to fulfil that on a global basis having an investor who shares that vision is really important.”
Clermont Group had already joined financial services firm NIBC Bank, the Singaporean government-owned EDBI, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC and Coltrane Asset Management to provide $100m for OakNorth in September 2018 at a $2.3bn valuation.
Clermont, Coltrane Asset Management and hedge fund Toscafund had invested $204m in the company in October 2017 at a reported valuation of almost $1.28bn, before GIC added $117m the following month. Property-focused conglomerate Indiabulls Group had previously paid $100m for a 40% stake in OakNorth in 2015.
