Yapily, a UK-based open banking fintech, has raised $13m in a Series A funding round led by European venture capital firm Lakestar and financial technology major Revolut.
The enterprise connectivity platform is said to provide an open API that helps companies to access the financial information they require to cope up with the growing customer expectations in banking, payments, lending, accounting and money management.
Existing investors HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, a Germany-based venture capital firm, and UK-based venture capital company LocalGlobe also took part in the Series A financing round.
Yapily also drew investments from angel investors that included TransferWise chairman and co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, UniCredit former deputy CEO Roberto Nicastro, and Deutsche Postbank former CEO Frank Strauss.
Lakestar partner Stephen Nundy said: “With Yapily, we’re investing in market leading technology that is ahead of the competition, both in terms of seamlessness to the end user, and in security and control.
“Their “Open API first” approach, with no screen scraping or reverse engineering of functionality, ensures all parties are getting the performance, scale, and security expected of such a critical piece of API infrastructure.”
Yapily claims to cater to some of the Fortune 500 firms and fast growth fintechs. These include accounting software provider Intuit QuickBooks which uses Yapily’s API to help its SME customers access insights and financial information from bank accounts across the UK, France, and Ireland.
Other clients and partners of the open banking fintech include IBM and GoCardless.
Yapily to use the new capital to push open banking adoption in Europe
Yapily plans to use the proceeds from the early-stage funding round to push open banking adoption by organisations across Europe. The fintech start-up intends to achieve this by offering a strong, secure and powerful connectivity layer that is said to enrich customer experiences, while creating financial opportunity.
Yapily founder and CEO Stefano Vaccino said: “We believe open banking is a force for good. Using our API and infrastructure, we’re not only providing our partners with strong and powerful connectivity to boost their user experiences.
“But we’re also giving their customers, whether they be consumers or businesses, greater control of their finances, through the creation of products and services which can fuel greater financial management and accessibility. Something that’s more essential than ever during this period of uncertainty.”
