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London fintech Railsr agrees rescue sale to consortium of investors

Railsr’s business has been salvaged by investors in a complex ‘pre-pack’ administration process, after a months-long struggle to find a buyer

By Amy O'Brien

Nigel Verdon of Railsr

London-based embedded finance platform Railsr has today closed a rescue deal with a syndicate of new and existing investors that will allow it to continue as a business.

Railsr, which had been struggling to find a buyer for months, has received a capital investment from a consortium of investors led by new investor D Squared Capital and existing investors Moneta VC and Ventura Capital. The exact terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The deal is part of a pre-pack administration process that will see its existing business entity put into administration, so that it can continue to trade under a new entity — called Embedded Finance Limited.

Railsr said the change of control had been agreed with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The sale means that Railsr’s customers — including British fintech Wagestream, which has 5m+ customers — will be able to continue using its platform.

It brings to an end a months-long struggle to find a buyer, after takeover talks with Nigerian fintech Flutterwave collapsed last year.

Sources have told Sifted that one of the chief reasons Railsr has struggled to find a buyer was its decision to buy collapsed German fintech Wirecard’s UK client base in 2020. 

Amy O’Brien is Sifted’s fintech reporter. She tweets from @Amy_EOBrien and writes our fintech newsletter — you can sign up here.