Fintech start-up TrueLayer has raised USD 70 million in a fresh round of funding. Further evidence of investor appetite for forward-thinking fintech firms.
According to the start-up the latest round of investment was led by Lee Fixel's venture capital firm Addition. Anthemis Group, Mouro Captial, Connect Ventures, Northzone, and Temasek who are existing investors also invested in the latest round. Tencent, the Chinese internet giant is also a shareholder in the company. To date, TrueLayer has raised $142 million in funding. The company did not disclose its latest valuation.
What does TrueLayer do?
TrueLayer connects Fintech apps with their customer's bank accounts via APIs. This allows the apps' users to make payments, view their account balance, or conduct transactions from their various accounts. Examples of apps that use TrueLayer's API are Revoult and Freetrade. The company is a proponent of open banking, a movement that challenges existing card networks like Visa and Mastercard.
See also: Fintech firm Plaid raises $425 million in series D funding
Why did TrueLayer raise more funds?
The company decided to raised additional funds based on strong growth in 2020 which was largely fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, a large number of consumers started using digital platforms to manage their money. Accelerating the adoption of platforms that use TrueLayere's technology. This past year the company saw its payment volumes increase by 600 times. In an interview with CNBC, Francesco Simonechi, the co-founder and CEO of TrueLayer said, “We were closing 2020 in an extremely positive way. We were going through an incredible year of growth.” Currently, TrueLayer employs 200 people and aims to add another 50 employees to its total strength in 2021.
The company plans to use the newly raised funds to expand its services internationally, particularly in Europe. They plan to launch in Australia this year and are considering whether or not to launch in Brazil.
Other fintech, TrueLayer, and open banking
There has been a boom in fintech investment in 2021. The past year saw greater adoption of fintech solutions than anticipated, this has accelerated the growth in the sector. TrueLayer is the latest fintech firm to get a significant investment. Fellow open banking firm and competitor Plaid, recently revealed that it had raised USD 425 million in its series D round of funding, increasing its valuation to USD 13.4 billion. Open banking proponents aim to open up the financial services sector by giving access to banking data and payment services to third parties that have customer consent. Sweden-based Tink and Britan's Bud are other notable firms that support the open banking movement.
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