Billon Group Ltd. today announced the completion of a £2 million investment supported by the Future Fund scheme, available to promising UK tech businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Billon secured investment commitments from angel investors and VCs of £1 million matched by the UK government through the British Business Bank for an additional £1 million. As part of the agreement, Billon has the opportunity to attract additional private investments for up to £500,000 by the end of October 2020, with all investments in the form of convertible loan notes.
Wojtek Kostrzewa, CEO Billon Group, comments: “The Future Fund agreement allows Billon to stay focused on helping clients pursue digital transformation and new business models for a world changed by the pandemic. I am very grateful to our investors and the Future Fund for an immediate and positive response at the height of this crisis.”
The Future Fund was established by the UK government in April 2020 to support startups and innovative companies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn. The program requires private sector lead investment, with the government contributing on a match funded basis. So far, the fund has invested in 320 companies for a total amount of over £320 million.
Anand Phanse, CFO Billon Group, adds: “This new funding in 2020 will support the next phase of Billon’s development, and represents an endorsement that investors seek pure distributed ledger technology companies that are better suited for solving national currency and personal data challenges than certain early blockchain architectures. The pandemic will open new opportunities for innovative companies like Billon.”
The 5-year-old British-Polish fintech has previously raised over $13 million of equity from investors, including the recent close of its Series A. As well, the company received an additional $6 million in R&D grants from programs such as EU Horizon 2020 (now rebranded as EIC Accelerator), the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, and Innovate UK.
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