The next direct flight between London and Nashville International Airport could have a few extra million dollars on board.
Retirement fintech company Smart has raised a $95 million round of funding, according to a news release, led by private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners LLC, with participation from Chrysalis Investments, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, DWS, Barclays and Natixis Investment Managers.
While Smart is based in the U.K., the firm chose Nashville as its U.S. headquarters in 2020, signing a lease for a 13,203-square-foot office inside Cummins Station.
The funds will be used to fuel Smart’s global expansion plans and to finance acquisitions, according to the release.
Smart’s cloud-based platform is aimed at helping plan advisors, employers of all sizes, as well as gig economy workers, manage retirement savings.
Smart operates in Europe, the U.S., Australia and the Middle East with nearly $7 billion in assets under management, according to the release, a 2,000% increase since 2018.
Founded in 2014, the company launched its platform in the U.S. in 2021 in conjunction with the roll out of the SECURE Act, which expands small business owners’ abilities to set up retirement plans and makes many part-time workers eligible for plans.
"We are excited to work with Aquiline in this next phase of our growth. In conjunction with our current partners, Aquiline's knowledge of the US retirement market will provide tremendous insight and value to our expansion in the US,” Smart U.S. CEO Jodan Ledford said in the release.
The funding comes less than two years after Smart raised $228 million from U.K.-based Chrysalis Investments. In an interview with the Business Journal at the time, Ledford said Smart has ambitions to become a public company in the next three to five years.
