Fintech Oval Money, a Robo-advisor founded by Benedetta Arese Lucini former CEO of Uber Italy, announced on Tuesday it kicked off its Series A round with a significant investment led by Italian banking group Intesa SanPaolo Group. The bank will reportedly take a minority stake in Oval Money and Oval Money’s products will be offered to a network of over 20,000 tobacconists across Italy through Intesa SanPaolo Group’s bank Banca 5, which already provides a physical banking experience through tobacconists and will now be able to offer consumers new, online services through Oval Money’s app.
According to Oval Money, the funding marks the opening of Oval Money’s Series A round and is in addition to €2.7 million the company has already raised. Earlier this year, Oval listed on Crowdcube where it raised £632,000, according to the campaign page. Oval reports this number hit £800,000. The company reported that the first half million was raised in just 72 hours. Speaking about the investment and partnership, Benedetta Arese Lucini, CEO of Oval Money, stated:
“This partnership is an important milestone for Oval Money. Working with such an important banking group like Intesa SanPaolo, and building on the infrastructure of Banca 5, allows us to guarantee to our customers a better performance, and even higher standards of safety and security. The interaction of a digital solution with a physical distribution also allows us to complete our mission of being a more accessible and inclusive solution.”
Stefano Barrese, CEO of Banca dei Territori Division, Intesa SanPaolo, also commented:
“The investment and collaboration with Oval Money represents a fundamental step in the path of constant innovation that the Group has pursued over the past few years, through large investments in digital solutions and startups.”
Barrese added:
“The integration of the online and offline infrastructure of Banca 5, the bank of Instesa SanPaolo focused on instant banking, with the existing features of Oval Money will provide to a new customer base, an innovative solution to the relationship with a bank and with the management of personalised savings and investment solutions. This will enforce the financial inclusion objective of the Intesa SanPaolo group, to become the number one impact bank at an international level.”
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