Deposit Sense has bagged a £350,000 investment from the Enterprise Ventures-managed The North West Fund for Venture Capital.
Set up by Paul Atkins, the business allows independent financial advisers (IFAs) to generate a new source of commission by managing their clients’ bank accounts.
Atkins was formerly operations director at the Co-Operative Bank’s IFA business but left his role to build the software product.
The £350,000, which comes from regional backer The North West Fund for Venture Capital, will now be used to market the software and secure orders from IFA firms.
The software allows for the comparing of interest rates by IFAs who can then select and manage accounts.
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Richard Young, fund manager at Enterprise Ventures, comments, ‘IFAs normally manage only investments in funds but in the current market, many clients are keeping large sums in bank and building societies.
‘Managing these deposits is very time-consuming for clients. Deposit Sense allows IFAs to do this very efficiently on their behalf and to improve retunes.’
Under current plans, IFAs will purchase a licence with Deposit Sense in the assumption that they will then in return charge the customer a fee.
The North West Fund for Venture Capital (worth £30 million) is part of the £155 million North West Fund, financed jointly by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.
Recent deal activity by the sub fund has seen it back digital commerce business Starfish 360, Liverpool-based Thirsty Horses and entrepreneurial brothers Simon and Ian MacDermott.
