Chip, the fast-growing wealth app, has completed a £17 million funding round at a £208m valuation that combines its first institutional investor with over 9,000 retail customers, with £2m dedicated to giving liquidity to early investors in its previous retail investment rounds.
[Tuesday, 27th January 2026, London] Chip, the fast-growing wealth app, has completed a £17 million funding round at a £208m valuation that combines its first institutional investor with over 9,000 retail customers, with £2m dedicated to giving liquidity to early investors in its previous retail investment rounds.
The raise from Channel 4 Ventures, the TV Channel’s investment arm, represents £6m in media spend, and is its biggest media-for-equity investment so far. It marks a significant step in Chip’s plan to become the most recognised digital wealth app in the UK.
Channel 4 Venture’s ‘media-for-equity’ offer gives consumer brands a TV advertising budget in exchange for equity, as well as access to millions of viewers across the country. The investment will be used as part of a significant marketing and TV push as Chip expands into a comprehensive, personalised wealth platform.
Europe’s biggest crowdfund of 2025
Alongside Channel 4 Ventures, over 9,000 people invested £11m into Chip via Crowdcube, making it the largest equity crowdfund in Europe last year. Established in 2017, Chip has over 500,000 active customers on its platform that helps users save, invest, and grow their wealth, with £6 billion in assets under administration.
Founded by Simon Rabin and Alex Latham, Chip has more retail shareholders than any private company in the UK, with over 30,000 retail investors. Investors in Chip’s first retail investment round in 2017 will see an 11x return based on the latest valuation.
A key element of this funding round is Chip’s plan to introduce an annual secondary sale register, developed with Crowdcube. This will allow existing shareholders to sell portions of their holdings periodically, and over £2m of the raise was used to give early shareholders liquidity.
Historically, retail investors in private companies have faced long holding periods without being able to sell; with this new initiative, Chip is giving its investors a path to liquidity.
Channel 4’s largest media for equity investment in its history
The deal, which will see Channel 4 Ventures offering advertising inventory across Channel 4, supports its goal of diversifying revenue streams as it transitions to becoming a digital-first public service streamer, as laid out in its Fast Forward Strategy.
The agreement also furthers Channel 4’s strategy to utilise the transformative potential of TV advertising to generate economic growth across the UK. Chip’s marketing push will launch several new products to the market this summer as it continues to expand.
Alex Latham, CMO and Co founder of Chip, said “This is a powerful moment for Chip. Our community has backed us at unprecedented scale, and a major British institution has chosen us as its largest ever investment. It shows how strongly people believe in our mission to make wealth building simple, personal, and accessible for everyone. We are building the next household name in UK finance, and this funding gives us the platform to accelerate that mission.”
Vinay Solanki, Head of Channel 4 Ventures, said “We are proud to lead this investment. Chip has outperformed many peers by focusing on simple, accessible products for savers. Channel 4 is keen to support innovative companies that unlock opportunities across the country – in this case helping consumers become more financially resilient. This deal also underscores our relationship with Crowdcube as we continue to work together supporting the UK’s consumer entrepreneurial ecosystem."
Matt Cooper, Co-CEO of Crowdcube, said “We are delighted that retail investors got to participate in this investment round alongside Channel 4 Ventures. The fund is the pioneer of the media-for-equity investment model in the UK, investing in consumer companies from post-seed to pre-IPO stages using Channel 4’s advertising space and in return receiving equity stakes in the companies it backs. Crowdcube remains focused on giving retail and high net worth investors the chance to invest in the private markets alongside leading institutions and funds ”
About Channel 4 Ventures
Established in 2015, Channel 4 Ventures is the consumer venture capital arm of Channel 4. The fund is the pioneer of the media-for-equity investment model in the UK, investing in consumer companies from the seed to pre-IPO stages using Channel 4’s advertising space (linear and streaming) and in return receiving equity stakes in the companies it backs.
We are a thesis driven investment team that believes that consumer companies can scale more rapidly by leveraging the reach of mainstream media platforms, like TV and VOD. Channel 4 Ventures exists to allow consumer companies to experience the benefits of brand advertising at an earlier stage of development than otherwise possible.
Channel 4 Ventures has completed over 60 deals, backing companies such as what3words, Oddbox, Purplebricks, Pinterest, Crowdcube, Carwow, Raylo and Swyft. Channel 4 Ventures is a core part of Channel 4’s revenue diversification strategy, which seeks to reduce Channel 4’s reliance on advertising revenues. All profits made from exits of Channel 4 Ventures equity stakes are invested in the creative ecosystem.
About Chip
Chip is a London-based digital wealth app used by over 400,000 people. The company provides a single app that allows customers to manage and build their long-term wealth across savings and investments.
Chip offers instant-access savings accounts, a range of low-cost investment funds from established asset managers. The app will also soon look to offer AI-financial guidance and regulated targeted support to give customers a robust financial plan, with AI-powered actions.
Founded in the UK, Chip is one of the most crowdfunded fintech businesses in Europe and is backed by tens of thousands of individual investors rather than institutional venture capital firms. This unique approach to funding has not slowed growth, with Chip being named as the 6th fastest growing tech company in the UK 2025 and 16th in 2026.
