Guildford: Charles Russell Speechlys advises fintech Appital on £2.5 million growth capital investment

Guildford firm Charles Russell Speechlys has advised fintech company Appital on its £2.5 million growth capital investment from Frontline Ventures and a number of other capital markets angel investors.

Founded in 2018, Appital is an equity capital marketplace which aims to create a new trading platform that enables the discovery of latent liquidity.

This injection of funding will accelerate the development of Appital’s technology infrastructure, integration with market leading financial institutions as well as technology vendors and enable the expansion of their engineering team to support the delivery of their go-to-market strategy.

Speaking exclusively to The Business Magazine, Rebecca Burford, Corporate Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, said: “Appital’s strategy is to continue to collaborate with innovative and forward looking firms to bring much needed transparency to a segment of the market that has - to date - been largely untouched by automation. Appital is looking to change this. The Appital platform brings innovation and a more efficient way to source hard to find liquidity, often in large volumes exceeding 5 days ADV (average daily volume), with minimal market impact or risk of price erosion. We are very much looking forward to working with Appital in the future as the business develops.

"Fintech is a really exciting and fast developing sector and we are seeing the continued rise of online platforms, e-money, cryptocurrencies, payment services and mobile technology. Fintech is one of the growing areas of focus for our firm and in addition to assisting Appital with this fundraise, we have also provided Appital with specialist advice on the regulatory side. 

"Other fintech projects we have worked on include advising Coinbase on the launch of their Coinbase Card (a visa debit card allowing users to pay using cryptocurrencies) and advising the developer of the Kuende platform, which is the first blockchain fuelled social network that uses gamified challenges to reward real life social interactions.

"Fintech forms part of Charles Russell Speechlys’ wider key focus on technology business. In the South in particular we continue to work closely with esports and video gaming businesses, and we are a founder member of Guildford.Games, Guildford’s video gaming industry hub.”

Mark Badyra, Chief Executive Officer of Appital, commented: “This is an exciting time for our business and we are delighted to have secured this investment led by Frontline Ventures. The team at Charles Russell Speechlys have been excellent from start to finish, providing invaluable commercial advice throughout. Their responsiveness and flexibility have ensured that the investment process was a smooth as possible.”

The Charles Russell Speechlys team was led by corporate partner, Rebecca Burford, supported by Corporate Associate Pei Li Kew, tax partner Robert Birchall, employment senior associate Becky Lawton, associate Jack Vaugh and corporate trainee Isabella Eacott. 

Charles Russell Speechlys employs over 160 staff in its Guildford office at One London Square and provides a full range of services to businesses and private clients in the region.