UK fintech Tide just crashed into the unicorn club with a $120 million funding round led by TPG, valuing the startup at $1.5 billion. The real story? More than half of Tide's 1.6 million small business customers are now in India, making it the company's largest market and driving this milestone moment for B2B fintech.
Tide just pulled off something remarkable - turning India's massive small business market into a unicorn-making machine. The UK-based fintech announced it's raised $120 million in a TPG-led round that values the company at $1.5 billion, marking its entry into the exclusive unicorn club after eight years of building.
But here's what makes this funding round fascinating: India has become Tide's secret weapon. Since launching there in December 2022, the startup has onboarded more than 800,000 Indian businesses - actually surpassing its home UK market of nearly 800,000 members. "There is a huge trend to formalization. So, our biggest enemy is cash, and not any competitors," Tide CEO Oliver Prill told TechCrunch.
The numbers tell the story of why TPG was willing to write such a large check. India launches around four million micro and small businesses every year, according to Tide's estimates, and the country has roughly 60 million micro and small businesses employing over 250 million people. That's a market that traditional banks have struggled to serve effectively.
TPG backed the round through The Rise Fund, its impact investing vehicle that's deployed capital into over 85 mission-driven companies. The funding combines both primary investment and secondary share sales from employees, early angels, and minority investors, though Tide declined to break down the exact split. Existing investor Apax Digital Funds also participated.
What sets Tide apart in the crowded fintech space is its approach to micro and small enterprises - the contractors, freelancers, and solopreneurs who spend countless hours on business management instead of actually running their businesses. While plenty of fintechs target SMEs, most solutions feel like afterthoughts rather than purpose-built platforms.
Tide's unified business platform handles accounting integrations, invoicing, business loans, asset finance, payroll, expense cards, and even company registration. In India specifically, the platform helps businesses navigate complex local requirements like accepting UPI payments, managing Goods and Services Tax compliance, and accessing formal credit through partnerships with around 25 lenders.
The India success story is particularly impressive given the market dynamics. "In India, there's a debate, as the growth rate slowed a little bit, but it's still a hugely impressive growth rate. You look at continental Europe or the U.K., the growth rate is a lot less," Prill explained to TechCrunch.
Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO of Tide India, told TechCrunch the company expects to hit one million Indian business members by year-end, with particularly strong demand coming from tier-3 cities and beyond - smaller towns with limited digital and financial infrastructure where traditional banks rarely venture.
The timing couldn't be better for Tide's expansion plans. The fresh capital will fuel further geographic growth, product development, and investments in what Prill calls "agentic AI." The company recently launched in Germany in May 2024 and expanded into France earlier this month, offering localized experiences including native language support.
In the UK, where Tide originally launched in 2017, the company has achieved profitability and serves around 14% of the country's small and medium business market. That profitability provides a solid foundation as the company scales its operations across multiple markets with over 2,500 employees globally.
"In the next few months and quarters, you'll see some major developments in that area," Prill hinted to TechCrunch about upcoming product launches enabled by the funding round. The startup still sees gaps in its comprehensive finance and admin services that this capital injection should help address.
Tide's unicorn milestone reflects a broader shift in fintech - the real opportunities aren't just in consumer banking or enterprise software, but in serving the massive middle market of micro and small businesses that traditional institutions often overlook. With India driving unprecedented growth and proven profitability in the UK, Tide has built a model that could reshape how millions of small businesses worldwide handle their financial operations. The question now is whether they can maintain this momentum across multiple markets while delivering on those promised product developments.
