(Sharecast News) - Vela Technologies has invested £66,000 in London-listed financial technology company Mode Global Holdings, it announced on Tuesday, as part of Mode's oversubscribed placing to raise £6m, to support the continuing growth of its financial products and services.
The AIM-traded firm said Mode would use the proceeds of the placing to provide it with strong cash reserves, to push forward its stated near-term strategic objectives.

Those objectives include launching a "revolutionary" payments solution powered by Open Banking, eliminating the need for cards.

It was also developing a loyalty and rewards engine that would allow merchants to provide personalised offers and rewards, including Bitcoin rewards, to customers.

Mode's objectives also included the integration of its new payment and reward capabilities into the Mode app, and relaunching it as the 'Mode Super App', which it described as a "next-generation financial super-app" with unique payments, investments, loyalty and digital asset features.

The funds would also be used to continue to expand Mode's business client base using global payment and marketing services, such as WeChat and Alipay, connecting more UK and European businesses with a growing consumer base from China and beyond.

Finally, Mode would invest further into Bitcoin to maintain its Bitcoin treasury position at 10% of its total cash reserves.

As it announced on 5 October, Vela originally invested £0.25m in Mode as part of its initial public offering, which raised £7.5m.

"Vela has entered into a subscription agreement with Mode, by which it has invested £66,319.55, funded from the company's existing cash resources," the Vela board said in its statement.

"Vela has subscribed for 120,581 new ordinary shares at a price of 55p per ordinary share."

Following admission, Vela said it would hold 620,581 ordinary shares in Mode, representing 0.68% of Mode's issued share capital as enlarged by the placing.

At 1429 GMT, shares in Vela Technologies were down 2% at 0.08p.