A price comparison platform that allows small businesses to assess the relative cost of payment services is raising millions of pounds to fund its growth.
Sky News understands that Tuza, which launched last September, has secured £4m of seed capital from investors led by Connect Ventures.
Northzone, an early sponsor of Spotify, also participated in the round, alongside Triple Point and Entrepreneur First.
Tuza, which raised £1.5m in pre-seed funding almost a year ago, aims to combat inertia among SMEs in the £205bn payments sector, with more than 90% of small businesses remaining with the same payment provider for more than a year, regardless of rates available elsewhere.
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The start-up uses pricing technology to display rates from providers such as Barclaycard, Revolut and Worldpay online.
It says it has seen £1.5 billion in SME card turnover since its launch eight months ago.
According to their figures, a typical corner shop could save more than £5,000 a year by switching payment providers.
“Our latest round of investment underscores the urgency of our mission,” said Ed Hardy, Tuza chief executive and co-founder of Tuza.
“Businesses should not have to incur high costs due to a lack of understanding about where or how to find better deals.
“Our platform offers instant and transparent access to the best solutions for each business.
“Not only does this save time, but it also introduces a level of pricing fairness never before seen in the industry.”
Tuza cited research that suggests two-thirds of merchants don’t know how much they pay in transaction fees.
It has set a goal of reaching 100,000 merchants on its platform.
Rory Stirling, partner at Connect Ventures, said Tuza’s approach “not only simplifies the complexities of payments processing, but also empowers UK businesses with unprecedented transparency and control.”
“Finally, the days of opaque pricing structures and meticulous comparisons are a thing of the past, marking a significant leap forward for the industry.”
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