Nationwide Building Society invests in U.K. card-linked charity app Percent

Nationwide Building Society is investing in the U.K. fintech charity app Percent, broadening Nationwide's support of charities and expanding Percent’s user base beyond its traditional core segment of students and young adults.

The investment is the latest initiative from Nationwide's Venturing Fund, which is designed to create partnerships in which Nationwide and early stage startups can develop innovative products and services for its 15 million customers across the U.K., Nationwide said in a press release. While no specific details on the size of investment were made, Finextra reports that the funds will be distributed from Nationwide’s £50 million (about $65.5 million) venture fund.

Percent was founded in 2017 and, after two years of development, began a rollout across the U.K. and now covers more than a dozen cities including Brighton, Cambridge, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford. Percent aims to be available in every U.K. city by the end of 2020. It also plans to expand internationally in the next 18 months.

Percent is card-linked charity app that allows consumers to raise money for the charitable causes they care about by spending money with Percent-affiliated retailers. The funds raised comes at no cost to the consumers. The funds are donated by the Percent retailers as a percentage of the amount the consumer spends in their shops.

For example, restaurants such as Domino’s Pizza and Five Guys Burgers will each donate 1% of the spend to the customer’s charity while pubs such as Slug and Lettuce and The Swan and Castle will each donate 5% of customer spend, Percent says on its website.

Percent claims to have tens of thousands of users, and the expansion to Nationwide’s 15 million membership base should serve to greatly expand its coverage.