[NEWS] After Loot runs out of cash, founder and 17 team members join RBS’ digital bank Bó – Loganspace

Ollie Purdue, the founding father of Loot, the fresh legend geared toward millenialsthat went into administration very finest monthafter working out of cash, is becoming a member of Bó, the digital financial institution being developed by RBS-owned Natwest, TechCrunch as learned.

He’ll soak up the arena of Chief Product Officer and can lead product constructing for the fresh mark, reporting to Bó CEO Model Bailie. I label that Purdue is additionally to be joined by 17 completely different ex-Loot team of workers contributors, spanning product, advertising and originate functions.

Echoing a carve of hasty-increasing just U.K. challenger banks, the yet-to-launch Bó is being constructed on a fresh technology stack, working as a separate unit and tech platform from RBS’ legacy operations. In completely different phrases, a startup within but supported by an incumbent financial institution. I’m listening to from my fill sources that the digital financial institution is already up and working and is nearly in a position to switch live, with around 1,000 RBS staff actively attempting out the product before a public launch this year.

Meanwhile, that Purdue and nearly one third of the Loot team of workers is becoming a member of the RBS venture is in particular intelligent provided that RBS changed into as soon as an investor in Loot and changed into as soon as regarded as shut to acquiring the startup before in a roundabout procedure pulling out of the deal. This led to Loot scrambling for additional funding, which it changed into as soon as unable to construct in time before working out of cash completely afterexisting merchantsdetermined now to no longer regulate to on.

Namely, Royal Bank of Scotland Neighborhood circuitously owned a 25% stake in Loot by process of an investment by Bó! In January this year, RBS offered that Bó had invested £2 million in Loot following an preliminary investment of £3 million in July 2018.

It changed into as soon as additionally presumed by many fintech insiders that Loot had been white-labeled and changed into as soon as powering the Bó product. Clearly that changed into as soon as never the case, leaving questions unanswered around why RBS/Natwest would make investments in a competitor, handiest to sees its demise six months later. Now everybody is aware of that it wasn’t for a lack of expertise at Loot, while there appears to be like to be runt defective blood between Purdue and RBS. There are consistently extra than one parties and dynamics fascinated with an acquisition.

To that cease, one source tells me that Bailie changed into as soon as the basic champion for Loot within RBS and that he changed into as soon as in all probability a scheme for the Loot founder and completely different contributors of the Loot team of workers. I additionally label that Purdue and team of workers feel they occupy unfinished commerce contained within the user digital banking build apart and that with the pudgy sources of RBS they’ll occupy a possibility to continue what they started at Loot.