UK retirement savings fintech Smart raises $95m to scale globally

London-based retirement savings fintech Smart has closed a $95 million Series E funding round, as it eyes further global expansion and near-term acquisitions.

The fundraise was led by private investment firm Aquiline Capital Partners, with participation from existing investors Chrysalis Investments, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, DWS, Barclays and Natixis Investment Managers.

Aquiline’s Charles Janeway will join Smart’s board of directors as a non-executive director.

Smart plans to use the proceeds from its funding round to continue its expansion in Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia, as well as to help finance near-term acquisitions and accelerate investment in and distribution of its proprietary retirement savings technology platform, Keystone.

A cloud-native, workplace retirement savings platform, Keystone partners with governments and financial services providers to power retirement savings solutions. It has formed a partnership in Ireland with a financial services institution, pooled retirement solutions rolled out nationally across the US, and a partnership with Zurich Workplace Solutions (Middle East), on the Dubai government workplace saving scheme.

Following the Series E round, Smart’s assets under management are expected to exceed £10 billion by the end of June this year, up from £5.5 billion in AuM on its platform currently.

Andrew Evans and Will Wynne, who co-founded Smart in 2014, called the financing “a resounding vote of confidence in the UK’s fintech sector, and its leadership in financial services provision”.

Smart owns and operates one of the UK’s four largest auto-enrolment master trusts, Smart Pension, which serves more than one million savers and 70,000 employers.

“We are the global leader in retirement technology and our industry-leading platform, Keystone, is being deployed by the biggest, most successful financial institutions around the world,” Evans and Wynne said.

“This is a $62 trillion global sector in the early stages of being disrupted, and we are uniquely positioned to take advantage of that.

“We have already reached scale and profitability in the UK, with Smart Pension now serving in excess of one million savers, and this backing allows us to achieve that scale and profitability in our global markets across the group.”

Jeff Greenberg, chair and chief executive officer of Aquiline Capital Partners, said Smart has consistently delivered impressive commercial growth.

“Under the leadership of Andrew and Will, we have every confidence that Smart is a multi-billion pound company in the making.

“The UK remains at the forefront in the digitalisation and democratisation of retirement savings and we are excited to support a UK leader in the sector as it helps to solve pressing issues facing savers, financial institutions and governments across the world,” he added.