Chip is a UK savings and investment app that uses an AI-driven system to work out how much a user can comfortably set aside, then moves that amount automatically into a Chip account.
It's free to download and has over 500,000 registered users. So how does Chip make money?
The short answer is it doesn't rely on one thing. Chip earns through a paid membership tier, a per-transaction charge on its free autosave feature, a platform fee on investing, and it has built most of its balance sheet through crowdfunding, though that's changed recently too. Here's how each piece fits together, and what the numbers show now its accounts are on the public record.
The Algorithm Deciding What You Can Afford to Save
Chip connects to a user's current account via Open Banking, analyses their income and spending, and transfers an affordable amount into savings automatically, with the option to decline any transfer.
The company, registered as Chip Financial Group Ltd, was incorporated on 8 April 2016 and is based in Shoreditch, London.
It was co-founded by Simon Rabin, who became chief executive, and Alex Latham, who leads marketing. Neither built a bank. Instead, they built a layer that sits on top of one, and the business model follows from that choice: Chip doesn't lend and earns no interest margin, so its revenue has to come from somewhere else entirely.
How Chip Makes Money
Chip makes money mainly through a paid subscription called ChipX, a 45p charge on each autosave for users who stay on the free Basic plan, and a platform fee charged to Basic-plan investors.
Fund management charges also apply to investing, but those go to the fund managers themselves, such as BlackRock, not to Chip.
That's a deliberate separation. The core product, automated saving, is the hook that gets 500,000-plus users in the door, though the free plan now carries a small per-save charge. Autosave fees, the platform fee and ChipX subscriptions make up Chip app revenue between them, in a freemium structure familiar from challenger banking, layered with genuine investment infrastructure.
Paying to Skip the Fees: The ChipX Membership Cost
ChipX membership costs £5.99 every 28 days on monthly billing, or £4.99 every 28 days paid annually, working out at £65.05 a year. That's the most direct revenue line in the business: a flat subscription fee, paid regardless of how much a user has saved or invested.
What the ChipX membership cost buys is unlimited autosaves and full investing access. On the free Basic plan, each autosave costs 45p; ChipX replaces that with unlimited free autosaves, a wider fund range, and removes the platform fee on investing entirely.
Users can upgrade or downgrade at any time through the app's Profile tab, though downgrading requires clearing any ChipX-exclusive holdings first.
Who Really Pockets Chip App Investment Fees?
Chip app investment fees on the free tier amount to a 0.25% annual platform fee, calculated yearly but collected monthly, with a minimum charge of £1 a month per account. ChipX members pay none of this.
On top sits a separate fund management charge, but this isn't Chip's own revenue: it's set and collected directly by whichever provider runs the fund, such as BlackRock, and applies to every user regardless of tier.
Chip states it never charges per-trade or brokerage fees on buying or selling, which keeps its own fee structure simpler than some legacy platforms. One independent fee comparison suggests the free plan works out cheaper for smaller portfolios, with ChipX becoming better value past roughly £26,000 invested, though that's a third-party estimate rather than a figure Chip itself publishes.
Your Cash Isn't Actually Sitting With Chip
Chip doesn't hold customer savings itself; its cash accounts and Cash ISA are powered by ClearBank, a UK-authorised bank, and its own marketing states its savings accounts are eligible for FSCS protection up to £120,000 per person as a result.
That distinction matters, because Chip is a technology company sitting on top of regulated infrastructure, not a licensed deposit-taker in its own right.
£23.8 Million and Counting: Chip App Revenue by the Numbers
Chip app revenue reached £23.8 million for the year ending 31 December 2024, according to the company's full accounts filed at Companies House, up from £15.1 million in 2023 and just £1.7 million in 2022.
That's roughly a 14-fold increase in two years, and the trajectory goes back further still: turnover sat under £200,000 in 2020.
The loss side has narrowed but hasn't closed. The 2024 accounts show an operating loss of £1.53 million and negative EBITDA of £1.43 million, against an operating loss of over £14 million in 2021.
Chip has reported profitable quarters on its own figures more than once, first in summer 2023 and again around late 2024, though the full-year 2024 accounts still show a loss at the operating level. Employee numbers stood at 150 for 2024, up from 58 in 2020. As of writing, 2025 accounts have not yet appeared on the public record at Companies House.
Chip's First Institutional Backer
Chip has historically relied on crowdfunding rather than venture capital, raising more than £50 million from over 27,000 individual shareholders through multiple Crowdcube campaigns.
That changed in January 2026, when Chip completed a £17 million round at a £208 million valuation, combining £11 million from more than 9,000 Crowdcube investors with a £6 million media-for-equity investment from Channel 4 Ventures, the company's first institutional investor.
Retail money still dominates the cap table, but the business is no longer funded by crowdfunding alone, and it now has a direct stake in whether Chip app investment fees and the ChipX membership cost ever tip it into sustained profit.
What You'll Actually Pay as a Chip User
For most users, this means a small, visible cost either way: autosaving on the free plan carries a 45p charge per save, and investing without ChipX carries the 0.25% platform fee on top.
Anyone who autosaves or invests through the app is quietly contributing to Chip app revenue each time, and anyone on ChipX pays for the same access through a fixed membership cost instead.
Understanding how Chip makes money really comes down to that trade-off: pay per use on the free plan, or pay a flat fee upfront with ChipX. For a business now backed by both a 27,000-strong retail shareholder base and a broadcaster's venture arm, that layered model is what keeps the lights on at scale.
FAQs
1. Is Chip app free?
The standard Chip account has no monthly cost or subscription fee, but it isn't free to use in every sense: autosaves cost 45p each on the Basic plan, and investing carries a 0.25% platform fee, unless a user upgrades to ChipX.
2. Is Chip app safe?
Chip's savings accounts are FSCS-eligible up to £120,000 per person through its banking partner, ClearBank, since Chip itself isn't a licensed bank.
3. Is ChipX worth it?
Whether the ChipX membership cost is worth paying depends on how much someone is investing. ChipX removes the 0.25% platform fee entirely, and one independent fee comparison puts the breakeven point at around £26,000 invested, above which ChipX typically works out cheaper than the free tier.
Also Read: How Cleo Makes Money: The AI Chatbot Turning Roasting Into Revenue
Sources: Chip Financial Group Ltd's full accounts filed at Companies House (year ending 31 December 2024), Chip's own pricing, help centre, about and newsroom pages, and company-reported figures shared via LinkedIn. All data reflects the most recently filed accounts and current published pricing at the time of writing.
The EP+ Editorial Desk covers UK startups, founder stories, and venture capital. All editorial content is independently produced and human-reviewed before publication.
