By Oliver Smith on Wednesday 2 June 2021
A sector “ripe for disintermediation” says CEO Tim Levene.
Listed fintech investor Augmentum has added two workplace savings startups to its growing investment portfolio.
The first is Cushon, a UK workplace pension and ISA provider, which this morning raised a £26m Series A, including £5m from Augmentum and a £20 credit facility from AshGrove Capital.
The second is Paris-based Epsor, which operates a platform of retirement savings products for employees to choose from, and also closed a €20m Series B funding round today, which Augmentum contributed €2.5m to.
“We believe that workplace savings and investments are ripe for disintermediation and with public policy across Europe increasingly seeking to encourage people to save more we believe there is a significant opportunity to successfully challenge incumbents,” said Augmentum Fintech CEO Tim Levene on the new investments.
“Cushon and Epsor give us access to this space and we believe both companies can be highly disruptive and are well-positioned in their respective markets to win market share”.
Both fintechs also have a strong ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) focus, with Cushon having launched the UK’s ‘first’ net-zero pension, and Epsor offering the largest socially responsible investment product offering for workplaces in France.
Augmentum investor Ellen Logan outlined the fund’s thesis for the duo as “that innovators in the space will prove to be powerful forces in reframing the conversation around workplace savings, driving up engagement at the individual level and pushing forward the industry conversation on ESG.”
In October, Augmentum raised £27.5m via a share placing to fund further investments, and in April saw one of its earliest portfolio companies Dext (formerly Receiptbank) acquired by Hg, turning the investor’s original £7.5m investment into £10.5m.
