Tide, the UK’s leading business management platform, has today launched the Tide Investment Account (TIA), bringing business investing directly into the platform where more than 900,000 UK SMEs already manage their finances. The new offering is designed to help business owners grow surplus cash through investing, removing many of the barriers that have historically made wealth creation more complicated for smaller businesses.
The launch follows the successful introduction of the Tide Cash ISA earlier this year, and fills a significant gap in the UK market. Currently, business investing is heavily restricted by manual paperwork, administrative overload, and a lack of integrated solutions. Tide is the only provider offering investment accounts exclusively built for small businesses. Automated tax and reporting capabilities are planned to further reduce the administrative burden of business investing.
To deliver this friction-free, Tide has established Tide Capital Limited as an Appointed Representative of P1 Investment Services Limited. Seccl, the Octopus-owned embedded investment platform, provides the infrastructure and custody for member cash and assets, while global asset manager Vanguard will exclusively provide the curated funds for the platform’s first year.
Through a simple interface in the Tide app, business owners can easily put unused cash to work. Eligible members can open and fund an account seamlessly using their existing business profile, avoiding lengthy onboarding.
Tide members can choose between two diversified, Vanguard funds to different risk appetites:
● Tide Balanced Fund: A balanced, moderate-risk option holding 60% equity and 40% bonds, mirroring the Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity fund (historic return of approximately 6.5%).
● Tide Growth Fund: A higher-growth, higher-risk option holding 100% equity, mirroring the Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity fund (historic return of approximately 11.4%).
Quoted historical fund returns are for illustrative context only. Past performance is not a reliable indicator or guarantee of future results.
Dora Ziambra, SVP Payments & Wealth at Tide, said: "For too long, small business owners have seen their hard-earned cash sit idle because business investing was simply too difficult, time-consuming, and buried under a mountain of paperwork. Our members want a simple, trusted way to grow their wealth directly from their banking app.
“By partnering with market leaders like Seccl and Vanguard, we’ve built an all-in-one integrated platform where founders can manage their business finances completely while safeguarding their future growth."
James Holmes, Chief Product Officer at Seccl, said: “We’re proud to be supporting Tide as it brings investment accounts to SMEs through a platform they already know and trust. For business owners, being able to access investing in a simple, familiar environment can make a real difference, especially when they are balancing long-term growth with the day-to-day demands of running a business.
“For time-poor founders, that kind of simplicity really matters. By making investing available alongside the tools businesses already use every day, Tide is removing the friction that has kept business investing out of reach for many SMEs. This launch is a great example of how embedded investing can open up new opportunities for underserved parts of the market, while giving ambitious platforms the tools to move quickly, safely and at scale.”
Benjamin Summers, Head of Vanguard UK, said: “We’re delighted to support Tide in helping small businesses put their hard‑earned money to work. For busy founders, it’s about having a straightforward way to invest so they can spend less time worrying about their finances and more time building a successful business.”
The Tide Investment Account is available to members in-app now.