Chris Eastwood, Founder and CEO of Penfold
Today we're meeting Chris Eastwood, Founder and CEO at Penfold. They specialise in providing digital workplace pensions, and they're on a mission to help everyone save enough for a comfortable later life.
Over to you Chris - my questions are in bold:
Who are you and what's your background?
I'm Chris Eastwood, the Founder and CEO of Penfold - the digital workplace pension provider on a mission to help everyone save enough for a comfortable later life.
Penfold is the first business I have founded - before that I worked as a consultant at Deloitte before working at Man Group.
I have a degree in mathematics from Bristol University and I'm an ACA qualified accountant (so I understand the pressures of that particular job!).
What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?
As Founder and CEO, my role is to set the strategic vision for Penfold, secure investment, steer the product roadmap and lead our leadership team in shaping company culture. I'm also responsible for ensuring we deliver a seamless customer experience – from app usability to award‑winning support teams.
Can you give us an overview of your business?
Penfold is on a mission to disrupt the £8trn pensions industry, enabling more people to save for later life. We do this by providing a purpose-built platform that delivers a brilliant user experience. Since the business started in 2018, Penfold's customer base has grown to more than 100,000 savers across the UK with over £750m of assets under administration.
In 2023, building on our success in the direct-to-consumer and workplace pensions market, we launched the Penfold Platform, specifically designed to offer a simplified and intuitive pension processing solution for accountants.
The Penfold platform combines the very best technology available with award-winning customer service to give savers greater control, clarity, and confidence over their retirement planning.
Right now over 4,000 businesses of all sizes trust Penfold to simplify employee auto-enrolment pension management, while individuals benefit from an easy-to-use app and transparent investing.
Penfold was named Best Pension Solutions Provider 2024 at the SME News Finance Awards, holds a 5-star Defaqto rating, and maintains an 'Excellent' rating (4.5 stars) on Trustpilot for its outstanding customer experience.
Tell us how you are funded?
Since launching, we've raised over £20 million in equity. That includes our 2018–2022 Series A, and a £2.9 million top‑up in 2024—supplemented by £0.5 million from outstanding warrants—bringing the round to £3.4 million. Most recently, we closed a £3.9 million extension in 2025 to fuel product innovation and expansion
What's the origin story? Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?
The core problem Penfold has always been trying to solve is that too few people are saving enough for later life. When I looked at all the reasons why so few of us are saving for our retirement, I reached the sad conclusion that the pensions industry is broken. Traditional providers, with their outdated products and poor customer service, have put people off saving. The world of work is rapidly changing and the pensions industry is falling further and further behind.
I started Penfold to address this crisis and get more people saving more for their future by making pension saving easy, accessible and engaging.
Who are your target customers? What's your revenue model?
Our customers include both:
- Employers and intermediaries (like accountants and advisors) using our workplace pension platform – handling payroll integration, auto-enrolment, and contribution management. We don't charge businesses – everything is free.
- Individuals, who are enrolled in their company auto-enrolment pension scheme, but also the self-employed or people wanting all their pensions in one app.
Revenue comes almost entirely from the annual management fee, with charges capped at 0.75 % (or 0.88 % Sharia plan), dropping to 0.40 % on balances above £100,000. There are no hidden charges – no setup fees, no admin fees, no switch or exit fees. That transparency helps accountants and savers know exactly what the real cost is, without surprises.
If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?
I'd integrate pensions far more tightly with payroll, salary sacrifice and tax‑relief systems so that retirement saving is perceived as a standard benefit – not a pain point. That means building smarter, friction‑free ecosystem connections either through open APIs or standards. I'd also simplify the regulatory landscape to let smaller innovators build bespoke workplace pensions like Penfold – without having to reverse-engineer the old, overly complex models.
What is your message for the larger players in the Financial Services marketplace?
My message: make pensions delightful, or someone else will. Invest in user‑centric tech. Let people control their savings as seamlessly as their Spotify playlist. Open your APIs. If tech or service barriers are too high, new entrants – small, nimble, digital-first – will eat your lunch. The pensions industry needs more platform-level thinking and better alignment with modern employment.
Where do you get your Financial Services/FinTech industry news from?
I check The Fintech Times frequently – for friendly, insightful coverage and even Penfold perspectives in their bylines. I also follow City A.M. daily – especially their fintech section – to keep up with regulatory developments, innovator moves, and funding trends in the UK fintech scene
Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech and/or Financial Services sector that we should be following on LinkedIn, and why?
- Anne Boden, Founder of Starling Bank: She turned the idea of app‑only banking into one of the UK's most successful digital banks. It's inspiring to see what customer‑first thinking can drive.
- Nik Storonsky, Founder & CEO of Revolut: Continually reshaping expectations for wallet, currency, and investment products globally. A true blueprint for fintech scale.
- Taavet Hinrikus, Co‑Founder of Wise & Partner at Plural: An innovator in transparent cross-border payments and master of long-term strategic thinking around fintech ecosystems.
What FinTech services (and/or apps) do you personally use?
- Monzo for daily spending – it's my go-to for freezing/unfreezing cards and budgeting visuals.
- Revolut when I'm travelling or sending money internationally – great FX rates and business features.
- Wise for sending funds to friends or contractors abroad – fast and wallet-friendly.
What's the best new FinTech product or service you've seen recently?
I'm really impressed by Moneybox – it uses open banking to pull in checking account data and automatically rounds up or invests based on spending habits. It's a great tech-led start to building strong default habits (even without saving directly into a pension).
Finally, let's talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?
AI-driven behaviour nudges: we'll see more personalisation at scale – smart notifications that help savers decide how to allocate more or defer withdrawals.
Embedded finance across platforms: pensions being offered directly through HR software, gig platforms, and accountancy tools.
Sustainable and value-aligned investing powered by tech to allow easy ESG / Sharia / responsible options inside everyday pensions.
Thank you very much, Chris!
Read more about Chris Eastwood on LinkedIn and find out more about Penfold at getpenfold.com.