Founding CFO & Capital Markets Co-Founder

Founding CFO / Capital Markets Co-Founder Chip In — Retail Finance and Device Upgrade Infrastructure

Equity | Pre-seed | UK

Chip In is building the upgrade infrastructure that enables electronics retailers to retain customers across successive device purchases.

Instead of treating checkout as the end of a transaction, Chip In connects the first sale to the customer’s next upgrade—combining retailer checkout integration, device financing, subscriptions and return economics within one repeatable system.

I am looking for a Founding CFO and Capital Markets Co-Founder to take ownership of Chip In’s financing strategy and help turn the model into a fundable, executable business.

Independent and mid-sized electronics retailers sell a device once and then frequently lose the customer when they upgrade.

Chip In gives retailers an upgrade programme comparable to those operated by mobile networks and major technology brands, without requiring the retailer to build its own financing or lifecycle infrastructure.

The business is designed to be retailer-first and initially capital-light:

• Retailers remain the point of sale.
• Finance partners fund new devices and conduct underwriting.
• Chip In coordinates the checkout and upgrade relationship.
• Returned devices can later generate additional value through refurbishment and re-leasing.
• Retailers benefit from repeat checkouts without carrying credit or residual-value risk.

This is not simply a software subscription business. Its success depends on combining technology, consumer finance, asset economics and institutional capital.

Chip In is currently pre-seed and pre-revenue.

Work completed includes:

• A developed business and operating model.
• Detailed financial and device-level economic modelling.
• A working checkout architecture and server-side state machine.
• Defined retailer and finance-partner propositions.
• An identified pipeline of prospective retailers and finance providers.
• Investor and commercial materials in development.

There are not yet signed retailer or finance-partner agreements. Securing those relationships is a central part of the next stage.

The initial angel/pre-seed raise is expected to be approximately £250,000–£350,000
, subject to the capital plan agreed with the successful candidate.

You will own the financial and capital-markets side of Chip In.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Designing the funding structure for the first device cohorts.
• Determining the appropriate division between equity, debt, asset finance and partner-funded capital.
• Leading conversations with specialty lenders, consumer-finance providers and institutional funding partners.
• Developing the financial model into a lender- and investor-ready operating model.
• Preparing capital forecasts, liquidity scenarios, cohort economics and downside cases.

  This is not primarily a bookkeeping, reporting or company-accounts role
  .

  The immediate requirement is capital formation, financial architecture and transaction execution.

  The person

  The strongest candidates are likely to have senior experience in one or more of the following:

  • Specialty finance.
  • Asset-backed lending.
  • Consumer finance or consumer hire.
  • Retail finance or embedded finance.
  • Warehouse facilities or structured credit.
  • Equipment, vehicle or device leasing.
  • Investment banking or private credit.
  • Fintech capital raising.

  You should be comfortable discussing matters such as:

  • Advance rates and borrowing bases.
  • Credit and residual-value risk.

    You do not need to know every answer on day one. You must, however, know how to reach the answer and be credible with the institutions involved.

    Essential experience

    Applicants should be able to demonstrate meaningful personal involvement in at least one relevant area, such as:

    • Raising an equity round.
    • Negotiating or closing a lending facility.
    • Structuring an asset-backed funding arrangement.
    • Launching a consumer or retail-finance product.
    • Building a finance function within an early-stage company.
    • Taking a financial product from concept to institutional approval.

    Job titles alone are not sufficient.

    I am particularly interested in people who have operated outside a large institution—through founding,…