Moneysupermarket 'eyes takeover' of former Virgin Money chief's app

Moneysupermarket (MONY.L) has approached money-saving app Snoop, the business set up by former Virgin Money (VMUK.L) boss Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, it has been reported.

The listed price comparison site reached out to Snoop in recent weeks to enquire about a possible takeover, Sky News said.

A source close to Moneysupermarket told the broadcaster it had indicated a price that it was prepared to offer, however, it is understood that it is no longer in active discussions with the startup.

It comes as Dame Jayne-Anne is finalising a £10m ($13.4m) crowdfunding for the new fintech venture, which launched in April, which she claims can save the average UK household £1500 each year.

The app is designed to help consumers watch their spending and spot smarter ways to save by using machine-learning to track bills and spending patterns. It has been downloaded more than 125,000 times.

In total, it has raised £19m from thousands of investors, with backers such as former hedge fund executive Pierre Legrange, Travelex founder Sir Lloyd Dorfman, Lord Brown’s Havisham Group and Salesforce Ventures.

The funding enables the firm to continue building its product and develop new features that will disrupt money management and budgeting.

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After the latest £10m fundraising Snoop chief executive John Natalizia said: “We’re all about making it as easy as possible to put a big chunk of cashback in people’s pockets and want to make Snoop the most valuable app on everyone’s phone.

“We’ve made great strides since we launched in April and we’re thrilled with the support from customers in the crowdfund. We will now accelerate the development of the platform, broaden our smart money-saving services, and continue to scale the business,” he said.

In September, Snoop was named one of Europe’s top 50 financial technology companies in the Fintech50, ranking fifth in Business Cloud’s 100 Fintech Disruptors list, and topping their East of England Tech 50.

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