Open Banking home finance start-up Youtility raises £4.5 million
UK home finance start-up Youtility has raised £4.5 million in a venture round led by ICAP founder Michael Spencer.
Youtility co-founders Will Kostoris and Charlie Quigley
Founded in September 2015 and based in London, Youtility aims to use Open Banking to enable customers to switch their energy, gas, and other utility suppliers.
The platform allows banks to “seamlessly” connect their customers with personalised home services contracts best suited to their needs.
Youtility plans to use its new funding to develop new product lines, hire across multiple areas of the business and evolve its data insights platform.
The funding round also included Barclays and the Fair By Design fund operated by Ascension Ventures.
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“Since our launch we’ve made big strides towards helping consumers move onto competitive tariffs but there are still millions of people at risk of spending too much on their home finances,” says co-founders Will Kostoris and Charlie Quigley in a joint statement.
“This funding will allow us to significantly expand our services and ultimately help more people take back control of their home finances as we work to improve consumer engagement by transparently showing them the alternatives that meet their needs.”
Lead investor Michael Spencer comments: “I was impressed by the Youtility team, and by their vision to tackle the problem of consumer utility switching in a new and creative way.”
The start-up has had one other funding round, a seed round in December 2019 in which just Ascension Ventures participated. The value of this round has not been disclosed.
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