What Circles powered by StepLadder does

Circles powered by StepLadder is a London-based fintech founded in 2016 that has built a digital platform for ROSCAs (Rotating Savings and Credit Associations), the informal group savings model used by over 1 billion people across more than 90 countries and transacting more than $500 billion annually offline. The company offers a tiered product suite spanning Circles 360 (self-serve SaaS at $360/year for up to 1,000 members), Circles Pro ($2,200+/month for up to 25,000 participants), and Circles Enterprise ($4,000+/month, unlimited capacity), all backed by a common platform that includes Circle Tracker, Circle Match, Ambassador Suite, Funnel Optimiser, Circle Chat, an audited Random Allocation Draw Algorithm, and a Risk Management & Regulatory Compliance module. It also offers advisory services, market studies, and a Foundations variant for non-profits.

The company operates three concurrent go-to-market motions: enterprise white-label deployment for banks, neobanks, and fintechs integrating Savings Circles into their existing apps via API; direct SaaS subscriptions for SMEs, community leaders, and individuals running their own circles; and advisory/consulting engagements. Revenue is generated through SaaS subscription fees, white-label licensing, platform transaction fees (1.8% on transaction volumes), partnership revenue share, and advisory services. Named enterprise customers include Itaú Unibanco (Brazil), Carbon Bank (Nigeria), Malipo (Kenya), Bixi (Somalia), and Cirkly (Sweden), alongside a long tail of 2,000+ individual UK members.

StepLadder Solutions Ltd. is FCA-regulated (firm reference 783003), headquartered at the Barclays Innovation Hub in London, and has raised approximately £4 million in disclosed equity capital from Anthemis, BBVA, Future Fund, and Seedcamp across rounds between 2018 and 2022. The company was founded by Matthew Addison (CEO) and Lucy Mullins (COO), with a leadership team covering customer success, membership communities, and marketing.

Name

Circles powered by StepLadder

Legal name

StepLadder Solutions Ltd.

Website

https://step-ladder-solutions.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Circles powered by StepLadder is a London-based fintech that provides a tiered digital platform enabling banks, fintechs, SMEs, and individuals to run ROSCA-based savings circles, monetized via SaaS subscriptions ($360/yr to $48k+/yr), white-label licensing, and transaction fees across markets in Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Savings Platform

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Retirement Planning & Long-Term Financial Planning Tools (FSAGADAI)

akta.pro secondary industry

Digital Retirement Platforms (IRA/401(k), Pension & Decumulation) (FSAGAEAF)

Keywords

• Digital savings platform
• ROSCA technology
• Collaborative finance
• White-label fintech
• Savings circle software

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription Fees: Tiered subscription model with Circles 360 ($360/year), Circles Pro (from $2,200/month), and Circles Enterprise (from $4,000/month). Each tier offers increasing participant capacity, automation features, and support levels.
2. Platform Transaction Fees: Circle operators can charge fees to members for organizing groups, running draws, and collecting money. Fees can be taken monthly from contributors or from draw payouts. Platform takes 1.8% total cost on transaction volumes.
3. White-Label Licensing: Enterprise financial institutions license the platform for white-label deployment, generating recurring licensing revenue with customized features and dedicated support.
4. Partnership Revenue Share: Revenue generation through partnership deals including kickbacks from retailer offers relevant to members' savings goals.
5. Advisory Services: World-leading ROSCA consultancy providing support with product strategy, marketing, regulation, financial structuring, consumer psychology, and operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Circles powered by StepLadder provides a digital Savings Circles (ROSCA) platform that enables financial institutions, fintechs, SMEs, foundations, and individuals to run collaborative group savings schemes online. The platform supports three tiers—Circles 360 for individuals and SMEs, Circles Pro for fintechs and digital businesses, and Circles Enterprise for large financial enterprises—offering white-label deployment, plug-and-play APIs, and complementary advisory services.

Product overview

Circles powered by StepLadder offers a tiered platform architecture for digital Savings Circles (ROSCA-based models), spanning three product tiers — Circles 360 (free-to-download, up to 1,000 members, Mailchimp CRM), Circles Pro (scaled B2B at $2,200/mo, up to 25,000 participants, integrated partner CRM), and Circles Enterprise (unlimited capacity at $4,000/mo, full customisation, integrated payments, go-to-market support). Beneath these are platform features (Circle Tracker, Circle Match, Ambassador Suite, Funnel Optimiser, Circle Chat, Risk Management & Regulatory Compliance Module) and service modules (Advisory, SaaS Delivery, Full Service Package, Market Study). A Foundations variant targets non-profits and social ventures.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Circles 360: Digital Savings Circles platform for individuals, sole operators, and SMEs. Supports up to 1,000 Circle members with CRM configured to Mailchimp.
• Circles Pro
• Circles Enterprise
• Circles 360 Foundations

Products and services

• Circles 360 Downloadable digital Savings Circles platform for individuals, sole operators, and SMEs to create and manage ROSCAs. Supports up to 1,000 circle members, includes CRM configured to Mailchimp, and offers manual payment tracking and draw management. Offered as a 30-day free trial followed by a $360 annual subscription.
• Circles Pro Scaled B2B tier for fintechs and digital businesses that want to scale Circles for profit and growth. Supports up to 25,000 circle participants and up to 1,000 circle operators, with a customer-facing experience hosted at the partner's URL, a branded dashboard, and CRM integrated with the partner's existing database. Pricing starts from $2,200 per month.
• Circles Enterprise Fully featured, unlimited tier for large financial enterprises. Includes unlimited circle participants and operators, an embeddable customer-facing experience link, fully customisable onboarding and underwriting criteria, integrated payment processing, full go-to-market support, onsite workshops, advisory services, and bespoke risk reports. Pricing starts from $4,000 per month.
• Circles 360 Foundations Specialised variant of Circles 360 tailored for non-profit organisations, foundations, and social change ventures seeking to boost financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment through community-driven savings.
• Advisory Services World-leading ROSCA consultancy providing support with product strategy, marketing, regulation, financial structuring, consumer psychology, and operations. Often bundled with SaaS or white-label implementations.
• Full Service Package Combines expert knowledge and software integration for a complete ROSCA package, pairing advisory consulting with SaaS deployment for partners seeking end-to-end implementation.
• Market Study Bespoke research and analysis service providing total addressable market sizing, use case identification, customer profiling, proposition analysis and ROI modelling, regulatory requirements assessment, competitive landscape analysis, and go-to-market planning for specific regions.
• White-Label Savings Circles Platform Enterprise financial institutions (banks, neobanks, fintechs) license the platform for white-label deployment. Partners integrate via APIs to embed Savings Circles into existing apps and ecosystems. Capital-light model generating fee income without balance sheet risk, purpose-built for launch in 10 weeks.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90% of people reach their savings goals faster than saving alone
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Malipo (Kenya)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partnership with Kenya's leading fintech combining StepLadder's digital rotating Savings Circles with Malipo's Chamas platform. Knowledge, technology and commercial collaboration for Kenya and beyond. Companies envision launching Advanced Financial Products localized to succeed by Q2 2025.
• Bixi (Somalia)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Somalia's leading payment gateway partnering to launch 'Circles on eDir' - bringing traditional Somali Ayuuto (Savings Circle) into the digital age. Q1 2025 launch planned. eDir provides secure, transparent, and accessible digital platform for communities to save collectively.
• Carbon Bank (Nigeria)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2024Nigeria's newest fully-digital Ajo (Savings Circles) launched by Carbon in collaboration with StepLadder. In just six months, 330% ahead of target volumes with 5,600+ customers and 73% month-on-month growth. Product integrated via APIs connecting Circles engine to Carbon's CRM and payment systems.
• Itaú Unibanco (Brazil)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerLargest bank in Latin America working with StepLadder to accelerate their Consortium (Saving Circles) business. Delivered R$2.4mm monthly uplift by applying StepLadder best practices and engagement experiments. Collaboration includes evaluation of pain points, experiment prioritization, customer journey refresh, marketing support, and team workshops.
• Cirkly (Sweden)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSweden's first Savings Circle solution partnering with StepLadder to support Cirkly's mission of building community of collective savers and borrowers. In 2024, Cirkly joined accelerator programs Connect Sverige and Founders Loft, secured 5+ LOIs from open banking and KYC partners, and launched MVP app with 150+ users on waiting list.
• WarmHeart (Kenya)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial change venture partnering to equip people with platform to motivate each other to reach financial goals to support families and community programs in Kenya. Circles 360 being used to foster new savings communities for greater financial access.
• Biochar Life KenyaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNon-profit using Circles 360 to accommodate community champion initiatives, scaling operations and reaching more members without being limited by manual processes. Values transparency and accountability features.

Scale indicators17 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• MoneyFellows: MoneyFellows operates a digital ROSCA / 'money circle' platform across Egypt, the UK and other markets, mirroring StepLadder's core offering of digitising group savings for individuals and SME operators with similar tiered pricing and partner-distribution approaches.
• Esusu: Esusu is a US-based fintech that uses the savings-circle (Susu) tradition to help renters build credit, directly comparable in product mechanic and B2B2C distribution model to StepLadder's Circles platform.

Emerging players

• Tala: Tala is a consumer fintech serving underbanked users in emerging markets (Mexico, India, the Philippines, Kenya) with mobile credit and savings products, overlapping StepLadder's emerging-market customer base (Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia) and financial-inclusion mission.
• Branch International: Branch is an emerging-market digital finance platform offering credit and savings to underbanked users in Africa and other regions, overlapping StepLadder's Nigeria and broader emerging-markets customer segment.

Broad incumbents

• Starling Bank: Starling is a leading UK challenger bank offering a full suite of current accounts, lending and savings products, representing the kind of incumbent financial institution that StepLadder sells its white-label Circles platform into.
• Monzo: Monzo is a UK digital challenger bank with broad consumer finance and savings offerings; comparable as a UK fintech addressing the same retail and SME audience that StepLadder's D2C Circles 360 product targets.
• Atomberg (no overlap). I'll use Zopa instead. Zopa is a UK digital bank offering savings, credit and investment products, comparable as a UK incumbent fintech and potential enterprise partner for embedding digital savings-circles functionality.

Regional players

• Tandem Bank: Tandem is a UK-based digital challenger bank focused on green finance and savings products, comparable as a regional UK fintech competing for similar retail customers and as a potential white-label partner for Circles.
• Atom Bank: Atom is a UK digital-only challenger bank offering savings and mortgage products, a comparable UK-based fintech addressing the same retail savings-customer pool that StepLadder's D2C Circles 360 targets.

Others

• Kiva: Kiva is a global nonprofit crowdfunding platform for community-based lending and savings; comparable to StepLadder's Circles 360 Foundations arm and its financial-inclusion narrative for underbanked users.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/step-ladder-solutions

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Circles powered by StepLadder