StepLadder, the UK’s first collaborative deposit peer-to-peer saving platform, and Squad, the next generation collaborative savings platform, have announced a merger. Squad’s existing offer will integrate into the Stepladder platform to improve its UX and communication with members of its deposit-saving Circles.
The two companies announced in February their partnership to enable StepLadder members to engage via Squad’s app. The trial launch of this collaboration was for a First Steps Circle, allowing members to subscribe for £25 a month for 20 months and helping them save £500 each in total. Delivering the live co-branded offering and real member experience together provided the foundation for the merger fusing two brands sharing the same vision for cooperative personal finance and complementary teams moving forward.
Mihir Bhushan, CPO and co-founder of Squad, will join the StepLadder team and continue to develop the complete offering while building out in-house development capability and shaping the shared greater vision. Mihir will lead the development of StepLadder’s Platform 2.0 planned to be released later this year.
StepLadder will leverage Squad’s platform to immediately deliver a more compelling user experience with proprietary host-administered forums for each Circle, a transparent goal-centric progress tracker and future member-centric features in development.
Both StepLadder and Squad are avid supporters of first-time buyers, and this merger will help to bring consumers closer together and navigate the complex path towards owning their first home.
Matthew Addison, CEO and co-founder of StepLadder said, “We are delighted to join forces with Squad. Their elegant, innovative offering is infused with deep thinking on the opportunity, and barriers, to delivering collaborative finance. Combined with our accelerating membership, together we expect to deliver an immediate leap forward for member experience and scalability. We know the next step for us is to better utilise technology to build community on our platform. Both StepLadder and Squad see the wave of collaborative personal finance rising.”
Mihir Bhushan CPO & co-founder of Squad said, “I am really excited to join the StepLadder founding team. We’re driven by the same vision for a collaborative future in financial services. Together, we will address a key social issue by helping people get the keys to their new homes sooner. Our combined offering has the potential to be the first genuinely new mainstream deposit saving techniques in a generation.”
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