Any update from InvestEngine re future strategy / funding etc? There are indications of new share allotments (and funding?) in Companies House submissions over the last year but difficult to tell without context.
I see that Matt Gatrell was appointed as a director on 29 June 2026 (presumably the former COO of Nutmeg / JPMorgan Personal Investing (left February 2026)). Hopefully that’s a good sign.
I did an estimate of InvestEngine (UK) Ltd funding, cash burn rate. Funding based on companies house filings (ai pulled), cash based on annual accounts (ai pulled). All a bit speculative but funding looking ok - based purely on shareholder / founder (Crookall et al) continued support.
But as before is a bit speculative, data may not have been pulled correctly etc.
| Date | Funding est | Cashburn est | Residual Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/10/2016 | 1 | 1 | |
| 04/06/2019 | 3,349,999 | 3,350,000 | |
| 31/03/2021 | -2,884,957 | 465,043 | |
| 09/09/2021 | 6,000,000 | 6,465,043 | |
| 31/03/2022 | -3,280,697 | 3,184,346 | |
| 19/04/2022 | 5,000,000 | 8,184,346 | |
| 31/03/2023 | -4,244,826 | 3,939,520 | |
| 19/06/2023 | 3,000,000 | 6,939,520 | |
| 31/03/2024 | -4,231,943 | 2,707,577 | |
| 23/05/2024 | 3,765,000 | 6,472,577 | |
| 03/10/2024 | 5,385,000 | 11,857,577 | |
| 12/12/2024 | 5,000,000 | 16,857,577 | |
| 31/03/2025 | -3,837,577 | 13,020,000 | |
| 16/04/2025 | 1,500,000 | 14,520,000 | |
| 16/10/2025 | 5,000,000 | 19,520,000 | |
| 02/02/2026 | 5,000,000 | 24,520,000 | |
| 20/02/2026 | 5,000,000 | 29,520,000 | |
| 31/03/2026 | -4,500,000 | 25,020,000 | |
| 09/07/2026 | -1,250,000 | 23,770,000 |
Still concerning their only reply to any of this is a warning about fake accounts and “want to be able to answer all of your questions and concerns as quickly as possible.” which was 25 days ago.
A bit concerning, and also intriguing really.
Note my previous post is possibly an underestimation of the company’s cash usage. When I asked ai to give an estimate of InvestEngines cash outflow based on losses before tax I get the following (with my estimate now of £9m outflow pa simply replicating the last available amount). Source is company house accounts.
| Date | Funding est | est2 Cashout | Residual Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/10/2016 | 1 | 1 | |
| 04/06/2019 | 3,349,999 | 3,350,000 | |
| development | -1,811,714 | 1,538,286 | |
| 31/03/2021 | -1,780,000 | -241,714 | |
| 09/09/2021 | 6,000,000 | 5,758,286 | |
| 31/03/2022 | -2,950,000 | 2,808,286 | |
| 19/04/2022 | 5,000,000 | 7,808,286 | |
| 31/03/2023 | -4,100,000 | 3,708,286 | |
| 19/06/2023 | 3,000,000 | 6,708,286 | |
| 31/03/2024 | -5,020,196 | 1,688,090 | |
| 23/05/2024 | 3,765,000 | 5,453,090 | |
| 03/10/2024 | 5,385,000 | 10,838,090 | |
| 12/12/2024 | 5,000,000 | 15,838,090 | |
| 31/03/2025 | -8,736,174 | 7,101,916 | |
| 16/04/2025 | 1,500,000 | 8,601,916 | |
| 16/10/2025 | 5,000,000 | 13,601,916 | |
| 02/02/2026 | 5,000,000 | 18,601,916 | |
| 20/02/2026 | 5,000,000 | 23,601,916 | |
| 31/03/2026 | -9,000,000 | 14,601,916 | |
| mid July 2026 | -2,625,000 | 11,976,916 |
According to ai at the current cash burn rates their cash will last until the end of December 2027. Also according to ai (and assuming 75% DIY / 25% managed funds) then the required AUM to break even is £15.6 billion, and that it would take them 1.5 to 3.5 years to achieve this. (Take this as speculation).
InvestEngine (UK) Limiteds latest MIFIDPRU 8 disclosure is quite interesting. It’s on their website if you google it, otherwise: MIFIDPRU 8 Disclosure
So about £3.5m of their £12m in expenses is due to payroll. Of which £2m are to 9 senior/key staff (£220k each) and the rest to 33 other staff (£46.5k each). About half of the senior/key staff remuneration was variable (presumably bonus for tech rollout and/or AUM milestones). It would be useful if there were income/cashflow milestones, and also if there were customer service milestones.
From their accounts to 31/3/2025 their interest receivable was about £1.4 million which equates to about 4.8% x £29 million. So presumably portion of this relates to cash input into the company and the remainder say £20m+ is interest on cash held by investors not yet invested. Given AUM is about £1billion I guess that equates to 2% non-investment rate. I’m guessing of course.
Anyhow it is what it is. Some questions I have would be what is the actual funding and income strategy? Do current changes to management mean anything? Are there any discussions with third parties at the moment (equity or debt)? Are they hoping that they will be an acquisition target (but by who? a fintech? a pension fund? private equity?)? If they are looking for economies of scale (ie AUM or customers) why is timely customer service not a key element of their offering?
I don’t understand how they intend to generate sustainable income. Are their managed portfolios still on hold? And to have income from uninvested funds seems somewhat counterproductive given that their aim is to “build a nation of investors” yet one of their professed income streams seems to encourage the exact opposite. They should probably be provide a money market fund for uninvested cash to align our interest with their interests (in both senses) . But this would erode earnings further.
So it all seems a bit uncertain to me what their future strategy is - a new fee structure? new products? change in management? buyout? merger?
I’m not trying to do a hatchet job here - I do want them to succeed. I note the market can’t be easy with the other low cost brokers (such as lightyear, Trading212) who may have alternate income streams. I think the ethos for low-cost long-term investing is great - but how is it sustainable at close to zero fees?
Again I note that the actual risk from InvestEngine in holding etfs appears low to negligible due to the use of nominee accounts etc. But I’m reluctant to commit more funds (and more importantly encourage friends / family to set up SIPPs etc which had been my intention) if I can’t get a sense of where the company is headed financially and why there is little to no focus on both timely and exemplary customer service.
As you note they are not doing themselves any favours with slow (or no) responses, or responses with hackneyed phrases.
On a positive side, I’m impressed with this message board. Apparently run by Discourse, (open-source platform).