UK fintech Pockit borrows cash from Spanish railway architect
Pockit has borrowed money from an award-winning Spanish railway architect in one of the most unusual debt raises completed by a British fintech.
The Cardiff-based business, which offers prepaid accounts to customers without a credit score, has signed a debenture agreement with Anchorgate Management, a British Virgin Islands company controlled by architect Santiago Calatrava, company filings show.
The size and the terms of the agreement, which also involved Pockit subsidiary Monese, were not disclosed, though it is understood that the fintech agreed a three year term with interest that is broadly consistent with market rates.
Calatrava, one of the best-known architects in Spain, is the designer behind some of Europe’s most iconic modern railway stations, including Liège-Guillemins station in Belgium, Lyon Saint-Exupéry TGV station in France, Lisboa Gare do Oriente station in Portugal and the Zürich Stadelhofen station in Switzerland.
He has also designed a number of airport terminals, road bridges, museums and sports stadiums across the continent.
According to Spanish national newspaper El Pais, Calatrava has set up a host of offshore companies to manage his various business interests, including entities in the British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands and Qatar.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Pockit said: “This agreement is a non-dilutive venture debt facility of the type that is often provided to high-growth tech companies by non-bank lenders, to help support Pockit and Monese’s growth ambitions.”
A different type of fintech
Founded in 2014, Pockit raised a $10m (£7.4m) funding round in 2023 to support the growth of its user base. The firm snapped up struggling fintech Monese in 2024 to bolster its tech offering.
Founder Virraj Jatania has said Pockit focuses on the “bottom half” of UK adults – some 20m to 22m people – who are often poorly served by mainstream financial services.
Jatania said most of Pockit’s users are those experiencing “cashflow volatility” – mainly blue collar workers, those in the gig economy and freelancers with sporadic incomes, as well as those with non-existent or thin credit records who find it difficult to open accounts with high street banks.
The lack of credit history for some customers means Pockit is likely to face greater scrutiny from traditional banks when it seeks financing, with the fintech instead turning to non-bank lenders such as Calatrava.
But Jatania has insisted that his business model is not inherently riskier by serving the kinds of customers legacy banks tend to turn down.
“With the right technology, controls and processes, you can manage the risk quite safely,” he said. “As fintechs have grown, so has regtech. So there’s great tools out there.”