Token

UK-based Token offers the “TokenOS” open-banking platform that allows enterprises to accept bank payments directly in place of traditional payment methods which are typically slower and costlier. TokenOS connects merchants, payment service providers (PSPs), and banks to over 567 million bank accounts in 16 European countries (as of June 2023). 

In addition to facilitating payments, the platform also aggregates customer transaction data to provide insights and enable enterprises to offer value-added services to their users. The company has offices in San Francisco and Berlin (its EU headquarters). 

Token is a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorized payment initiation and account information service provider—and the first provider to conduct an end-to-end payment through a Payment Services Directive (PSD2) compliant bank API. In April 2021, Token was granted official authorization by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin, to function as a licensed Payment Initiation Services Provider (PISP) and Account Information Services Provider (AISP) in Germany. As of October 2023, the platform had expanded its direct open banking services and payments network across Scandinavia and offered account information services (AIS) and payment initiation services (PIS) in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. In January 2024, the platform joined the SEPA Payment Account Access Scheme (SPAA) , led by the European Payments Council, to enhance open banking monetization capabilities.

Key customers and partnerships

Token’s customers included large global enterprises including BNP Paribas, and HSBC. 

In February 2019, Token was selected by Mastercard to power the latter’s “open banking hub”, which connects enterprises with financial institutions in Europe to facilitate payments. Token was also chosen by cross-border payment infrastructure platform Flutterwave in June 2023, to power its “Pay by Bank” transfer capabilities. Later that year, Token partnered with EchoPay in August, to enable wholesalers in the UK to accept A2A payments.

Funding and financials

Token noted that its payment volumes more than doubled every month from March 2020 to January 2021. In May 2022, the company was reportedly seeing a volume growth of 10–20% month-over-month in the UK, and Token accounted for around 21% of all account-to-account payments in the country. 

Token raised USD 40 million in Series C funding, co-led by Cota Capital and TempoCap, in May 2022, to invest in expanding open banking connectivity across Europe and to introduce APIs for variable recurring payments and open finance applications.