Tide to bolster India presence with £100 mn investment, 1,000 jobs

London based Tide Platform, which helps small firms open business accounts, is in a rapid expansion mode in India. After launching a global development centre in Hyderabad late last year, the company now plans to invest 100 million pounds (about Rs 1,000 crore) and create 1,000 jobs over the next five years.

Tide is looking to build its workforce across product development, software development, marketing, risk and compliance and member support.

India was Tide’s first foray in the international market. The company has over 200 employees in the country, with most of them being based out of its technology centre in Hyderabad, it said in a statement. It opened the global development centre in December 2020.

Earlier this year, Tide said that it plans to increase its India headcount by 350 skilled professionals in 2021 to take the total employees in the country to over 400.

"Tide recognises the ambitions of both the UK and Indian Governments to build India-UK bilateral relationships with an enhanced economic partnership and sees SMEs as being crucial to economic growth in both nations. Tide is committed to serving the 64-million and growing Indian SME sector and will help unleash the true potential of Indian small businesses," Oliver Prill, Tide CEO, said.

Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO of Tide India, said that the company looks to contribute to both the countries’ vision in developing a roadmap to a free trade agreement.  

In addition to business accounts and related banking services, Tide offers a comprehensive set of administrative solutions for SMEs. It focuses on serving the unregistered and unorganised sectors, helping small businesses digitise.  

Tide recently announced a collaboration with its first banking partner, RBL Bank. As part of the deal, RBL Bank will provide the bank account to SMEs on Tide’s India platform.

Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, Tide claims to have over 350,000 SME members in the UK.  

Tide has been funded by Anthemis, Augmentum, Creandum, Goodwater, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, SpeedInvest and The SBI Group. It employs over 500 professionals worldwide.