Kul Bhushan · · 2 min readUK fintech firm Tide enters India with $138m investment plan
Tide Platform Limited (Tide), a UK-based fintech startup for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has announced its entry into the Indian market. The company plans to invest more than 100 million pounds (US$138.4 million) in India and create more than 1,000 jobs in the next five years.
Tide already has more than 200 employees in India – the first international market the company has forayed into.
Gurjodhpal Singh was appointed CEO for Tide India in January 2021. / Photo credit: Tide
Founded in 2015, Tide claims to be one of the top fintech firms in the UK. The company focuses on SMEs with services such as business accounts and other related banking solutions. It has more than 350,000 SME users in the UK, capturing about 5.5% of the market share.
Some of the top investors in the company are Anthemis, Augmentum Fintech, Creandum, Goodwater Capital, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, Speedinvest, and SBI Holdings.
According to Tide, it will provide solutions aimed at helping small businesses go digital, a new industry demand that has risen amid the Covid-19 pandemic. It will also bring its core business and banking services to the Indian market.
The fintech startup has already begun the groundwork, recently tying up with RBL Bank, a private sector bank in India, as its first banking partner. Under the partnership, RBL Bank will provide the bank account infrastructure for Tide’s India platform where SMEs will get an option to open current and savings accounts.
“Tide is committed to serving the 64 million and growing Indian SME sector and will help unleash the true potential of Indian small businesses,” Tide CEO Oliver Prill said in a statement.
This year, the company said it is aiming to onboard 25,000 SMEs in India, and it is looking to serve about 2 million SMEs in the country in the next few years.
According to Tide India CEO Gurjodhpal Singh in a press briefing, the company will also work with local fintech partners to facilitate its services. However, he did not divulge the names of possible partners.
Currency converted from pounds to US dollar: US$1 = 0.72 pounds.
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Editing by Collin Furtado and Jaclyn Tiu
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