£1m Venture Backing for MoneyExpert

October 14th 2004

A new money-saving web-based business has been backed to the tune of £1.06m with support from Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF) and MMC Ventures (MMC).

MoneyExpert, the company behind www.moneyexpert.com, has just relocated to St Helens and expects to create around 50 new jobs over the next three years. The £1.06m investment includes a £500k equity injection from MSIF with the remainder from MMC, the leading organised angel syndicate, and directors' own investment.

The site, which is free to access, is designed to save consumers both time and money offering up-to-the-minute comparison information on thousands of financial products including mortgages, credit cards, savings, current accounts and loans.

Applications for credit card transfers, for example, can be transacted through the site and, in most cases, an immediate decision can be confirmed online within minutes.

CEO, Sean Gardner is the co-founder of the business. He said: "Quite simply, we want to provide people with all the information needed to select the most suitable personal finance product based upon independent research on every product available to them."

"MoneyExpert arms customers with all the tools necessary to enable easy comparison on a massive range of products. We aim to cut through a complex market and make consumers fully aware of all the choices available to them. Already we are attracting 250,000 visitors each month. We are delighted to be expanding the business here on Merseyside; the investment will make a crucial improvement to our already impressive rate of growth."

Dan Jackson, Investment Director of MSIF's Venture Fund worked with MSIF Investment Manager Matt Allen on the deal. He said: "MoneyExpert is an exciting company led by a dynamic management team. We were pleased to have worked alongside MMC to put together an appropriate finance package for MoneyExpert and will continue to provide support to the business as its enters this new phase of expansion on Merseyside."

The company has already secured numerous deals with major UK portals and is currently in negotiations for affinity partnerships with several publishing giants and major UK ISP's.

The funding is being invested in further product development, marketing and technology. Turnover is expected to hit £3m this year and exceed £10m over the next three years. Currently 15 staff are employed at the premises.

Advisors involved in the transaction were Brabners Chaffe Street acting for MSIF, Osborne Clarke for MMC and Templex Advisory acting for MoneyExpert.

Ends

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Photo shows L-R Matt Allen (Merseyside Special Investment Fund) Sean Gardner (MoneyExpert) Dan Jackson (Merseyside Special Investment Fund).

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