London fintech Stoa raises £1.8 million pre-seed to offer savers upfront brand rewards #

London-based fintech startup Stoa has closed a £1.8 million ($2.4 million) pre-seed funding round to grow its cash management platform, which lets consumers and small businesses earn upfront rewards from partner brands when they place money into fixed-term deposits.

The round was co-led by Bespokeist Partners and Ingenii Capital, with additional participation from Force Over Mass Capital and Fuel Ventures, according to UKTN. A group of senior financial-services angels also participated, including Suneel Hargunani, a Citi veteran, and Rachel Sestini, a partner at Shaw Gibbs group and co-founder of Canopy Capital.

Stoa’s core product, called “Stoa Pots,” lets users lock away cash for a fixed term and receive immediate lifestyle benefits from merchant partners rather than waiting for conventional interest to accumulate. Eligible deposits are held with regulated banking partners and covered by the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The platform is already live for both retail and business customers in the United Kingdom.

According to CEO and co-founder Mike Saraswat, the company operates as a three-way distribution layer connecting financial institutions, consumer brands, and savers. Banks can attract larger deposits for longer durations, while merchants gain a channel to reduce customer churn and lessen dependence on card-processing fees. The platform combines behavioural finance principles with embedded banking infrastructure and merchant-partnership rails.

Stoa has also announced that John Mountain, a co-founder and former chief executive of Starling Bank, has joined as an advisor to support product development and expansion across financial institutions and merchant networks.

The funding will go toward software engineering, scaling consumer and merchant onboarding in the UK, and preparing for a US market entry. The company said strategic conversations with potential US partners are already under way.

Incumbent banks have faced scrutiny over the rates they pass on to depositors. Stoa’s model offers an alternative by paying out rewards upfront rather than through conventional interest accumulation.

Source: UKTN