Wealth management platform Sidekick raises £8.5m

London-based wealth management platform Sidekick has raised £8.5m in a combined debt and equity investment.

Founded in 2022, Sidekick is a platform aimed at founders, tech workers, lawyers and similar professionals who want to invest beyond picking stocks but don’t know what the next steps are.

Services on the platform include access to diverse assets, in-house portfolio managers and credit lines, subject to assessment.

“We’re looking to address the growing inequity of wealth creation and let the money of hard-working entrepreneurs and professionals work harder,” said Sidekick co-founder and CEO Matthew Ford.

“Sidekick exists to ensure that it’s not just the ultra-wealthy that have access to the tools and products needed to secure long-term financial prosperity.”

Ford added: “Launching this product to a wider client base demonstrates that we can deliver our promise to provide the same financial services once traditionally reserved for the select few.”

The £4.5m equity seed round was co-led by Pact VC and TheVentureCity and included participation from MS&AD, Blackwood, 1818, Octopus Ventures, Seedcamp, and Semantic Ventures.

The £4m debt financing was provided by Columbia Lake Partners, which has previously backed banking as a service platform Griffin.

“Sidekick addresses wealth disparity and the limited options in the market, which often restrict investors to extreme ends of the spectrum: solely passive investing or active speculating,” said Monik Pham, founding partner at Pact VC.

“By catering to an underserved segment with innovative financial products and inclusive wealth-creation opportunities, Sidekick is changing private wealth for the new generation.”

Sidekick previously raised £3m in a pre-seed round in October 2022.