London-based start-up Chip has raised almost £1.1m ($1.5m) in crowdfunding as part of a wider bid to apply for a banking licence. The company is looking at the UK and Ireland but also wants to open branches across Europe with plans to offer its services by 2020. Chip is beta-testing a product enabling it to lend out a portion of deposits to fund an overdraft.
London-based start-up Chip has raised almost £1.1m ($1.5m) in crowdfunding as part of a wider bid to apply for a banking licence. Currently, Chip's savings app plugs into a customer's bank and automatically sets money aside, but to offer a wider range of products, rather than resell what already exists, the company has to join the banks in order to beat them. Chip is beta-testing a product enabling it to lend out a portion of deposits to fund an overdraft.