Fintech investor Merian ups holding in TransferWise

Merian has now invested £57m in TranfserWise.

Fintech investor Merian Chrysalis has invested an extra $4.2m (£3.3m) in TransferWise and invested a further £12.2m in pension challenger Embark Group.

Merian already has holdings in challenger bank Starling and peer-to-peer lender Growth Street.

Its additional investment in TransferWise, which was founded in 2011 by Estonians Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, (pictured) was made through its unit Merian Global Investors and follows an £11m investment it made in TransferWise in February this year.

In total, Merian now has a £57m investment sum in the currency specialist.

Merian said its investment in Embark was "to accelerate execution of Embark's ambitious growth plans", including its recent purchase of the Zurich adviser platform.

Its investment in Embark is made up of an £8m equity investment and a £4.2m Convertible Loan Note (CLA).

Richard Watts, co-portfolio Manager, said: "Since our initial investment, Embark has established itself as a disruptive force in the UK retirement and savings market. Embark will be a £33bn+ AuA franchise with exceptional balance across product, distribution channel and activity type. 

"The acquisition of Zurich is perfectly aligned with the company's growth strategy and we look forward to working with Phil and team as they capitalise on a very material opportunity.''

Analysts Liberum said: "Merian continues to work on deploying the proceeds from the capital raise at the end of September. The company has now deployed £92.5m of the £175m gross proceeds. Following completion of the investment in Embark, the company will be approximately 69 percent invested, which is in line with its most recent target weighting."