Existing investors participating in the round included Chrysalis Investments, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, DWS, Barclays and Natixis Investment Managers.
Funds from this investment round will bolster Smart’s global expansion plans, building on the company’s strong performance in Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia. Proceeds from the round will also help finance near-term acquisitions and accelerate Smart’s investment in and distribution of its proprietary retirement savings technology platform, Keystone. The market-leading growth and profitability of its UK-based Smart Pension business is underpinned by the scalability of the Keystone platform.
Smart has experienced a period of exceptional growth, with group revenue of £67m in 2022, a 65% increase on the previous year. In February 2023, Smart was ranked among Europe’s fastest-growing companies by the Financial Times.
Smart today already has over £5.5 billion in assets under management (AUM) on its platform and is expected to exceed £10bn by the end of June 2023 following this Series E funding. Growth has been driven by the accelerating global demand for modern, digital retirement savings technology, the success of Smart Pension in the UK and strategic M&A.
Established in 2014 by Andrew Evans and Will Wynne in the wake of the UK’s roll out of mandatory workplace pension auto enrolment, Smart owns and operates one of “the big four” UK auto enrolment master trusts, Smart Pension, serving more than one million savers and 70,000 employers.
Commenting on the deal, Tony Littner, corporate partner and head of venture said:
“Having advised Smart since it was a startup and on their previous funding rounds, we were delighted and proud to have had the opportunity to support them again on their latest significant milestone. It is well-known that the environment for raising money is more challenging at the moment than it has been in recent years so for Smart to have been able to close a round of this nature at this time is a tremendous testament to the management team and their vision as well as being a welcome and positive endorsement for the state of UK fintech.”
On working with Harbottle, Eoin Corcoran, Smart CFO said:
“Harbottle & Lewis have done an amazing job in supporting Smart through a number of significant and complex funding rounds from the very early stages of the company to where we are today with the latest Aquiline led round. Tony Littner and Tom Macleod are highly pragmatic, experts at what they do, and perhaps most importantly, are always willing to give their views on key commercial points.”
The Harbottle team which advised Smart on the transaction was led by the firm’s head of venture, Tony Littner, and senior associate Tom Macleod, with support from associates Emily Miles, Tom Connor and Katerina Capras, and trainee Grace Tang.
Tony advises on a wide range of corporate transactions, including investments and venture capital deals, buying and selling businesses and shareholder arrangements. Tony is widely recognised as one of the leading venture capital lawyers in the UK and is a trusted adviser to entrepreneurial businesses and to the investors in such businesses, with a particular focus on the technology, media and entertainment sectors.
Tony frequently advises emerging companies and the founders behind such companies on their full lifecycle from inception of an idea through to funding rounds, exit and beyond as well as the venture capital funds and investors that invest in such high growth businesses.
Tony is recognised as a "Leading Partner" by The Legal 500 and ranked by Chambers in venture capital work.
Tom advises founders, growing entrepreneurial businesses, venture capital funds and angel investors on a broad range of corporate matters including acquisitions and disposals, exits, all forms of financing rounds (S/EIS, venture capital, venture debt, VCT, growth capital), joint ventures, corporate restructurings and share incentivisation schemes.
He is seen as a rising star in the industry and is known for combining excellent technical skills alongside a pragmatic, commercial approach. Tom has a particular focus on advising high-growth technology companies and is equally adept advising on early stage investments or later stage transactions for both investors and investees alike. Tom is also part of the firm’s international strategy group, with a particular focus on the USA.
Tom trained at CMS, before joining the corporate practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a newly qualified solicitor. He joined Harbottle & Lewis in February 2017.
Emily has particular expertise in private mergers and acquisitions, as well as investment and fundraising transactions. Her practice also encompasses pre-transaction restructurings, joint ventures, management incentive arrangements, and wider stakeholder advisory work.
Emily works with clients in a broad range of sectors, with a particular focus on the media, technology, retail and hospitality sectors. Additionally, Emily advises ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients and their family offices on their investment and acquisition activities in the UK.
Emily’s experience includes an in-house secondment at the head office of a global entertainment, hospitality and leisure brand.
Emily’s expertise has been recognised by The Legal 500, where she is listed as a “Key Lawyer” for M&A (£10-100m). Emily graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA in history before converting to law. Before joining Harbottle & Lewis in 2017, Emily trained at DLA Piper where she spent time on secondment in the Sydney office.
She has experience in advising on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder arrangements, early-stage fundraisings, share incentive schemes and joint ventures, with particular expertise in the media, entertainment and technology sectors and the wider creative industries.
She also has a particular interest in working with charities, social enterprises and philanthropic individuals and organisations and has extensive experience advising on charity formation, governance, regulatory compliance and corporate transactions involving charities and not-for-profit entities.
Katerina is recognised as a "Leading Associate" for M&A in The Legal 500 2025 as well as a "Key Lawyer" (The Legal 500 2025) and "Associate to Watch" (Chambers UK 2025) for her charities and not-for-profit work. She has been described as having “fierce attention to detail and vast knowledge, combined with a good dose of pragmatism.”
She is a member of the Charity Law Association.