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Allica Bank is a London-based digital challenger bank that provides commercial mortgages, asset finance, and tailored banking accounts to established small and medium-sized enterprises. The financial institution specifically targets UK businesses with 10 to 250 employees, scaling its internal operations to support a workforce of over 400 staff members. Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Richard Davies, the firm has successfully surpassed £2 billion in business lending and £2 billion in customer deposits. Operating as a fully authorized bank, it achieved its first full year of profitability in 2023 and recorded an 85,438% revenue growth rate. The company's ongoing expansion has been backed by major institutional investors, including TCV, Atalaya Capital, and Warwick Capital Partners, who recently participated in a $155 million Series D funding round. Allica Bank was originally founded in 2011 by Craig Iley.
Allica Bank has raised $275.0M across 2 funding rounds.
Allica Bank has raised $275.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Allica Bank has raised $275.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $155.0M Series D in February 2026.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 25, 2026 | $155M Series D | — | Gerson Lehrman Group, Sona AM, Michael Kalfayan, MO EL Husseiny | Announced |
| Dec 1, 2022 | $120M Series C | TCV | Atalaya Capital Management, Warwick Capital Partners | Announced |
Allica Bank has raised $275.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Allica Bank's investors include Gerson Lehrman Group, Sona AM, Michael Kalfayan, Mo El Husseiny, TCV, Atalaya Capital Management, Warwick Capital Partners.
Allica Bank is a UK-based fintech bank, not a general technology company, specializing in digital banking services tailored for established SMEs with 5-250 employees. It offers a full suite of products including business loans, asset finance, savings accounts, current accounts, cards, and payments, combining proprietary in-house technology with personalized relationship banking.[1][2][3][5] The bank secured its licence in 2019, launched lending in 2020, achieved profitability in mid-2022, and has grown rapidly—lending over £3 billion, securing £4 billion in deposits, and serving 25,000+ customers by recent counts, earning accolades like Britain's fastest-growing private company in The Sunday Times 100 and top spot in Deloitte's UK Technology Fast 50.[2][5]
Allica's growth momentum stems from its tech-driven approach: building scalable, in-house platforms for loan processing and automation using tools like Kotlin, Spring Boot, Azure, and React, while partnering with firms like TEAM International and SaaScada for engineering augmentation and core banking infrastructure.[1][3][4] This has enabled quick scalability amid rising client demands, with profitability hit ahead of peers and backing from tech investors like TCV (known for Airbnb and Spotify).[2]
Allica Bank emerged from a recognition that established UK SMEs—representing a third of the economy—were underserved by traditional banks' generic services and high fees.[2][5] It received its banking licence in 2019 after a rigorous process and launched its first deposit product late that year, pivoting to loans in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which tested but accelerated its tech resilience.[2][5] Founders and leaders, including CEO Richard Davies, drew from fintech expertise and SME banking gaps, building an in-house tech team that scaled from inception to 150+ engineers by 2022 (total headcount 324).[2][4]
Pivotal moments include rapid profitability in summer 2022, raising over £2 billion in deposits by mid-2023, and attracting TCV investment, which validated its tech stack over traditional banking models.[1][2] Early traction came from automating lending and operations via partnerships like TEAM International, addressing overload from exponential client growth.[1]
Allica stands out in SME banking through a hybrid model blending cutting-edge tech with human expertise:
Allica rides the SME fintech wave, addressing a £100B+ UK market gap where traditional banks fail established businesses (10-250 employees) with outdated tech and impersonal service.[2][5] Timing is ideal post-pandemic, as SMEs demand digital agility amid economic pressures—Allica's 2020 launch capitalized on this, scaling via cloud-native stacks amid remote banking shifts.[1][3] Market forces like open banking regulations, rising interest rates favoring deposits/savings, and investor appetite for profitable fintechs (e.g., TCV's tech-only focus) propel it.[2]
It influences the ecosystem by pioneering SME-specific tech infrastructure, inspiring hybrid models and proving fintechs can profit quickly without VC burn—setting benchmarks for automation in lending and transactional banking, while uplifting 25,000+ SMEs.[1][5]
Allica's trajectory points to expanded product dominance, with roadmaps for next-gen digital services like advanced payments and AI-driven insights by 2024+, leveraging its data-rich platform.[1][3] Trends like embedded finance, real-time payments, and regulatory tailwinds for challengers will shape it, potentially doubling lending/deposits amid SME recovery. Its influence may evolve from disruptor to market leader, redefining "business banking" through tech-human synergy—proving fintechs can thrive profitably where incumbents falter, much like its rapid rise from 2019 licence to profitability icon.[2][5]
