Smedvig Capital leads £1.3M investment in Profile Financial Solutions
Funding round to accelerate growth of Profile’s technology-led mass-market independent financial advice service.
Smedvig Capital, today announced a £1.3M growth capital investment in Profile Financial Solutions, a high growth and tech-enabled financial services advisory firm.
The initial investment will enable Profile, which offers affordable independent financial advice to the mass market, to advance its technology-led service and consolidate its position as one of the UK’s leading pension advisors. The funding from London investment house, Smedvig Capital, will also support the expansion of Profile’s operations, including a move to a larger office to accommodate its growing team.
Founded in June 2013, Profile already manages over £125m of pension assets on behalf of its customers. Profile has developed a proprietary technology-based, process driven model, allowing its team of FCA regulated advisors to provide high quality, independent and personal financial advice at an affordable price. Unlike many financial advisory institutions, Profile has an exceptionally low minimum threshold for investment, making IFA advice available to lower and medium net worth individuals.
The market opportunity for independent financial advisory firms such as Profile was recently boosted by an announcement from Chancellor George Osborne that the government plans to introduce wholesale changes to the pensions market in April 2015. With millions of people nearing retirement age granted the freedom to spend their pension pot as they please, demand for pensions advice is set to increase as up to 18 million will be faced with new choices for managing their pension.
Profile’s founding team is led by CEO Ian Floyed. Ian is an experienced entrepreneur and previously founded myhomemove, the technology enabled legal services provider that is now the UK’s largest conveyancing firm.
The initial Series A funding from Smedvig Capital is part of its long-term commitment to investing in high growth and innovative consumer-facing businesses. Smedvig has worked previously with Ian, injecting growth capital into myhomemove.
Ian Floyed, Managing Director at Profile Financial Solutions commented, “Consumers are currently under serviced by the traditional IFA market, meaning that millions are unable to receive independent advice. We hope that by combining accessible technology with great customer service we can fix this problem. The investment from Smedvig will enable us to improve our digital capability and fund our expansion to meet the increasing demand for our services. With major changes to pensions just around the corner, we’re looking forward to welcoming many more clients to Profile and helping make their money go further for them.”
Jordan Mayo, a Managing Director at Smedvig Capital commented, “We are delighted to be backing Ian and Steve for a second time. As with their previous business myhomemove, they are using technology to transform a poorly served industry. Profile is only 18 months old and is already growing rapidly with more than £125m assets under management. By applying a proprietary process-led approach, Profile is able to provide the mass-market with affordable and genuinely independent financial advice which they have not had access to up until now”
