The UK’s fastest growing fintech Allica Bank delivers another record year
Allica Bank, the UK’s fastest growing fintch, nearly doubled its profit in the last year after another period of rapid growth.
The digital bank, which caters towards small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), increased pre-tax profits 86 per cent to £29.9m.
Lending activity grew over £1bn in 2024 and revenue shot up 68 per cent to £292.1m, compared to £173.9m in 2023.
Richard Davies, Allica’s chief executive, told City PM the SME market was a “barren wasteland” five to 10 years ago and Allica’s “strategic focus” on the area was key to its growth.
After its launch in 2020, Allica quickly became a fintech darling and has achieved accolades for its rapid growth.
The Times Hundred named the firm the UK’s fastest growing private company and Sifted dubbed it Europe’s fastest growing start-up.
The fintech recorded its first year of profitability last year.
Allica ‘expected’ to have reached unicorn status
Davies previously served as chief operating officer at Revolut and chief executive of OakNorth.
Now, his passion for the SME segment has Allica targeting 10 per cent market penetration within the next three years.
He said: “We have that super clear focus on an established business segment, I think really, really helps because there’s been no pivot.
“It’s purely a: ‘How do we execute against that statement needs every single day?’”
The fintech boss added his own personal ambition was to conquer the ten per cent target by early 2027.
The company is one of the UK’s top fintechs tipped to reach unicorn status – a market value of over £1bn.
Allica’s last funding round was in 2022 and it would require another to verify the valuation.
Davies said there were no plans for another round, but he’d “expect” to see the business achieve the milestone if completed.
He added there were no current discussions on a public float, but said London would make a “natural location” given its UK operations.
Eying future plans, Davies said the business operates under the stance “none of the products are more than half done.”
He said this opened the door to “huge ranges of improvement” including accelerating lending decisions and leveraging AI to streamline application processes.