Romi Savova and Jonathan Lister: PensionBee

Romi Savova and Jonathan Lister, 32 & 34
Company: PensionBee
Web: www.pensionbee.com

Twice-featured in the Startups 100 and winner of Innovative Business of the Year at the Startups Awards 2016, Pension Bee is the online pension manager that helps its customers combine all their old pensions into one new online plan.

And behind it all are Romi Savova and Jonathan Lister, the entrepreneurs on a mission to make pensions “cool”.

Targeting customers in their 30s and early 40s who are put off saving for later by complicated products, PensionBee allows users to manage their pension like a bank account, able to look at their live balance, make contributions online and use a smart calculator to plan their saving.

After choosing a plan that suits their needs, every customer is assigned a dedicated ‘beekeeper’ and pays an annual management fee of between just 0.5 and 0.7% depending on their plan. This fee covers everything including transfers, underlying fund fees and making contributions, with no exit fees charged.

Whether pensions are now officially cool or not remains to be seen, but with 40,000 sign-ups – 65% of which are acquired through Facebook and Instagram – millions of pounds moved to the platform every week and a 9.1 pilot rating on Trustpilot, PensionBee certainly seems to be striking a chord with consumers. And it’s not just trendy Londoners either: 80% of its customers are based outside the capital.

PensionBee says: “We’ve connected with a generation left out in the cold by complacent pension providers. We’re easing saving, innovating and improving an industry in the process”.