Workplace pensions platform Penfold has secured a further £7m in funding to accelerate its growth in this market.
Penfold launched this funding round to expand its workplace business and digital platform proposition, which has signed more than 150 businesses since its launch 10 months ago, including some of the UK’s biggest scale-ups such as Cuvva, Elvie and Attest.
Penfold’s workplace pension scheme is designed to give employees greater control and ease of access over their pension, and to ensure this expensive workplace benefit can become a powerful retention tool for businesses.
It says it aims to offer its pension products to both employees of large companies and the self-employed, enabling people to stay with the same provider throughout their working life.
Penfold said that Bridford Group had been the lead investors in this Series A funding round. Bridford is an investment group that deploys its permanent proprietary capital in a range of sectors, including tech, sustainability, and biotech. Bridford Group and its affiliates have been invested in Penfold since its first funding round in 2018.
Also participating in the round was Penfold’s chief investment officer and chairman of Coller Capital, Jeremy Coller. Penfold also opened the round to its customer base and wider community with a crowdfund which reached 190 per cent of its goal from over 900 contributors.
Penfold co-founder Chris Eastwood says “We’re delighted to have built on the continued backing of our existing investors in our Series A raise with another hugely successful crowdfund. It’s been a big year for Penfold – from launching our workplace pension offering, to reaching £100m AUA – and this latest funding round is a testament to the growth already achieved by the business, as well as the hard work of our team.
“We are incredibly thankful to our investors who share our vision of getting more people engaged with their retirement savings in a meaningful way.
“This funding will have a huge impact on our ability to bring our pension to more people, especially as we look to expand our workplace pension offering. Today’s funding is another step toward building a modern pension that helps everyone save more for their retirement.”
Bridford Group, lead investor, adds: “The pensions industry represents a huge market – with £8trn in savings in the UK alone. Despite this, many people remain uninterested and unengaged in their pensions. With so many people not saving enough, there’s a real opportunity for a new provider to step in.
“In the nearly 3 years we’ve been working with the team at Penfold, we’ve been consistently impressed with the high quality of everything they do and the rapid growth of the business. In particular, the rapid roll-out of the workplace pension offering to 150 signed businesses in well under a year has been most impressive.”
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