Challenger bank Oxbury to launch following £15 million funding round

Agricultural challenger bank Oxbury has raised £15 million in a third round of funding as it prepares for launch later this month.

The startup – – led by CEO and co-founder James Farrar, who also set up ClearBank in 2015 – received its banking licence in February last year and had originally scheduled a 2020 launch.

Oxbury’s USP is to provide farmers with seasonal cashflow services, smoothing out the dips and uplifts in income before and after harvests. Savings accounts for businesses and the general public will round out the product suite.

The £15 million funding round was led by the Duke of Westminster’s Wheatsheaf Group, with further participation from founding investors including crop protection group Hutchinsons and grain supplier Frontier Agriculture.

The latest investment round takes the total amount raised by the bank to £30m since 2018.

The cloud-native bank is targeting a five percent lending market share within five years of launch in a market where 70% of lending is still controlled by the big four banks.

Oxbury’s savings range is available to both farm business and individual retail customers. Consumers will be able to put aside savings while pledging interest earned to fund dedicated tree planting projects across Britain.