Harbottle & Lewis has advised, fast growth, auto enrolment pension provider, Smart Pension, on its £15m Series B funding round, taking the company to its next level of rapid expansion.
The fintech company says the investment will help it continue to play a pivotal role in workplace pension innovation and also crucially enable Smart Pension to export its world-leading technology-led pension solution overseas, as more nations explore auto enrolment initiatives globally.
Founded in 2014, this latest round brings Smart Pension's total funding to date to £25m and values the company at more than £65m.
Andrew Evans, co-founder and CEO of Smart Pension, said: "In a relatively short space of time Smart Pension has delivered, and successfully brought to market, affordable, efficient and accessible auto enrolment to thousands of small companies across the breadth of the UK. This Series B funding round means we'll be able to deliver more tech-led, pioneering innovations, such as one-click integration with Sage's entire suite of payroll products within weeks and the further roll out of our unique pensions API, meaning we can further simplify pension compliance for UK PLC."
Last year, the company announced investment from Europe's largest institutional asset managers, Legal & General Investment Management, a transaction in relation which Harbottle & Lewis also advised.
The funding was led by a large family office with a pedigree in financial services, joined by existing investors from the City and technology arenas, including tech entrepreneurs Tom Valentine, co-founder of Secret Escapes, and William Reeve, the serial entrepreneur behind firms such as Zoopla, LOVEfilm and Graze.
Tony Littner, Head of Harbottle & Lewis' Startup and Venture Capital practice commented: "Smart Pension provides a fast, affordable auto enrolment solution that dramatically improves the experience of SMEs that must comply with new pension legislation. Having acted for the company since its early stages, we are proud and delighted to have been able to support them through their latest significant investment round."
On working with Harbottle & Lewis, Andrew Evans co-founder and CEO of Smart Pension commented: "Smart Pension is on a strong, upward trajectory. Our powerful platform sees a new business enrol every seven minutes and that incredible volume is only set to rocket further. Managing growth on this immense scale requires careful leadership and handling, which is why Tony Littner's detailed knowledge and experience of the complex legal negotiations that need to happen along the way is so welcome. This funding round has, as a consequence, been legally stress free."
Tony Littner advised Smart Pension on the deal with assistance primarily from Felix Wong.