Seedcamp is Europe's seed fund, identifying and investing early in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. The Seedcamp Nation includes over 400 startups building breakout businesses that change the way people live, interact and buy and includes publicly listed UiPath, Wise, and unicorns Revolut, Hopin, Sorare, Pleo, and wefox along with fast-growing businesses such as Grover, viz.ai and Ezra.  Seedcamp fast-tracks a founder's vision and creates value through immediate access to smart capital, a lifelong community of support and a global network built upon more than a decade's experience backing exceptional talent. Seedcamp fast-tracks a founder's vision and creates value through immediate access to smart capital, a lifelong community of support, and a global network built upon more than a decade's experience backing exceptional talent.

Seedcamp

The stated aim of LCIF is not to fund London tech businesses that otherwise would not get funded but rather to enable those who can raise, to raise significantly more so that they have a sufficient money, time and resources to prove their business model. This way London based tech startups will be more able to raise their next round of funding and thereafter become the great tech companies that London so wants and requires. The London Co-Investment Fund was launched by the Deputy Mayor of London on the 4th December at City Hall. LCIF six co-investment partners has been selected based on their excellent track records of investing and supporting early stage tech businesses in London.

London Co-Investment Fund

ETFS Capital is an investment company working across the global investment ecosphere with a focus on ETFs. Created by ETF industry veterans and chaired by Graham Tuckwell, an ETF industry pioneer and founder of ETF Securities. In 2018 ETF Securities sold its European and North American issuance businesses to WisdomTree, Legal & General Investment Management and Aberdeen Standard and became ETFS Capital.

ETFS Capital

XTX Ventures is the venture capital arm of XTX Markets. XTX Markets is a leading, innovation-driven algorithmic trading firm. XTX Ventures focuses on early stage startups (Seed to Series A) applying machine learning and leverages XTX Markets’ deep expertise in ML and financial technology to help grow and enhance those businesses. We are geography and industry agnostic.

XTX Ventures

Start Ventures is a global early-stage Venture Capital investor in B2B startups in the Financial Services sector, particularly in Fintech and Insurtech.  Our mission is to support visionary founders and operators who are driving transformational change in the industry through technology. With our network and expertise, we help startups scale and create positive economic impact.  We are committed to responsible investing and sustainability and our investment decision focus on startups that can create impact for good.  Join our network to stay up-to-date on the latest industry trends, Start Ventures Research publications, portfolio companies updates and events where you can meet our team face to face.

Start Ventures

LaunchBay is a venture firm specialising in FinTech Infrastructure, B2B Software, and AI applications, investing in companies at the point where they have demonstrated product-market fit and are ready to scale. With headquarters in London, UK, and Tel Aviv, Israel, Launchbay has built a global presence with strong connections in the local ecosystems in which the team operates and an active investment and portfolio construction approach.    Launchbay supports technology companies across three main pillars: - a flagship access fund for early-stage investments,  - a growth fund for selected later-stage opportunities,  and  - a proprietary digital investment platform that facilitates primary and secondary deals across various stages Data-driven decision-making is a key aspect, where we utilize algorithms and scoring within the platform to address industry-wide challenges related to access and liquidity.    Launchbay takes a particular interest in founders with an immigrant background because we recognize the distinct perspective, drive, and ambition that often accompany building successful businesses outside of one's home country. We believe in the success stories of the vision, capabilities, and growth potential demonstrated by founders with this type of experience.

Launchbay Capital

WealthKernel

''WealthKernel is the Amazon Web Services of savings, investment and pension infrastructure, for business using the platform it is like plugging into the central power grid instead of producing their own power.''

WealthKernel is a British company offering API-based white-label infrastructure for robo advisors, neobanks, and personal financial management platforms to develop portfolio and financial management services. The company aims to reduce the inequality in access to wealth and investment services, including targeting underserved markets such as halal and ethical investments. The modular infrastructure lets users embed several solutions, including client onboarding, brokerage, trading and portfolio management, and custody services, among others.

Democratizing financial technology with a suite of API-based solutions

FinTech Infrastructure

WealthKernel embeds savings accounts with Griffin’s BaaS platform

Griffin

To expand its product portfolio by adding savings account capabilities to its investment platform, enabling FinTech companies and wealth managers to offer savings accounts alongside investment services.

Platforms that allow FinTechs to integrate banking services such as opening and maintaining accounts, facilitating card payments, etc.


WealthKernel is a British company offering API-based white-label infrastructure for robo advisors, neobanks, and personal financial management platforms to develop portfolio and financial management services. The company aims to reduce the inequality in access to wealth and investment services, including targeting underserved markets such as halal and ethical investments. The modular infrastructure lets users embed several solutions, including client onboarding, brokerage, trading and portfolio management, and custody services, among others.The platform’s reach spans across the UK and Europe and its clients included wealthtech companies such as Claro Money, Wahed, Wealth8, and Rosecut. As of January 2022, the platform handled over 100,000 transactions per month and supported assets under management (AUM) of over GBP 5 billion.Funding and financialsIn January 2024, WealthKernal raised GBP 6 million (~USD 7.6 million) in a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25879">Series A extension </a>round, led by ETFS Capital. The new capital will be used to expand its presence in the European market, with a focus on strengthening its presence within the wealth management and advisor sectors.

Cross River Bank provides a white-label banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform for enterprises, combining banking services, payments, and marketplace lending infrastructure to build fintechs. Its solutions comprise demand deposits, savings accounts, credit and debit cards, and payment clearing services, including automated clearing house (ACH) and real-time payments. The company also provides banking and payment infrastructure for the crypto industry, including risk management services for its crypto clients.Cross River Bank has expanded its operations by acquiring Betterfin, a platform offering lending-as-a-service (LaaS) solutions, in November 2021. Through the acquisition, Cross River Bank leveraged Betterfin’s software to digitize parts of the small-business lending process (such as origination and underwriting).&nbsp;Key customers and partnerships&nbsp; As of November 2024, Cross River had over 80 clients, including lenders such as Affirm, Best Egg, and Upstart, neobanks such as <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/220119">Revolut</a>, and blockchain-based payment processing platform GreenBox. The platform reportedly originated over USD 24 billion in loans per annum, around 10x the value of loans it originated in 2015.As of November 2024, the company had over 500 employees and had entered more than 80 partnerships.&nbsp;In September 2024, Cross River Bank partnered with Forward, an embedded payments company, to offer payouts-as-service solutions featuring same-day automated clearing house (ACH) payouts through Forward's proprietary API technology.&nbsp;Cross River Bank also teamed up with UK-based BaaS provider <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/421515">Railsr</a> in January 2019 to launch a common API for their platforms to be used globally.The company partnered with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/1643">American Express</a> (Amex) to enable FinTechs to issue credit cards through Cross River Bank, on the Amex network, while also providing select Amex benefits to the FinTechs.&nbsp;

Cross River Bank

Synctera was co-founded in 2020 by Peter Hazlehurst, the former head of Uber Money, who previously led the development of Google Wallet. The company offers an API-based infrastructure platform for community and regional banks to find and partner with FinTechs. This enables FinTechs to leverage the former’s licenses to embed FDIC-insured mobile checking, debit cards, savings accounts, and payment innovations, among other features. The API platform offered to the banks will then be sold to the FinTechs to code on. Although the end customers interact with the FinTechs, they legally belong to the bank.<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8117">Synctera mainly charges the banks </a>based on the interchange fees they earn (half of the interchange fees, as of January 2022) from the services provided. It does not charge them an initial amount to use the platform. Moreover, the platform also embeds fraud-as-a-service and charges FinTechs on a per transaction basis (4 cents per transaction) should they choose to use it. It subsequently shares that revenue 50/50 with the banks.The company launched the “t-minus10” project in January 2022, which offers a live sandbox for FinTechs to build apps, test, and go to market, enhancing their access to banking partners. It subsequently launched a “Smart Charge Card” (APIs to build, launch, and issue charge cards) and “White-label Banking App” (a codebase for developers to build embedded banking products or neobank apps) infrastructure in October 2022.Key customers and partnershipsIn February 2022, Lineage Bank (a community bank in Tennessee) and GoGetr (FinTech aiming to promote health and wealth management) became the first companies to launch a banking solution using the Synctera platform. As of March 2023, the platform was working with around 50 fintechs, of which 14 were live (including Wayapay and Float). Synctera reportedly had over 20 implementations set for launch in the following two months.Synctera announced a new card issuing and management infrastructure offering (Card-as-a-Service), in July 2021, which it developed in partnership with Mastercard and leading card issuing infrastructure disruptor, <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/64287">Marqeta</a>.In August 2024, Synctera partnered with<a href="https://thepaypers.com/payments-general/synctera-partners-marqeta-to-introduce-fleet-cards--1269833"> Marqeta&nbsp;</a>to develop a fleet card solution that helps companies create and manage their own fleet card and banking products.

Synctera

Based in the UK, Weavr, formerly known as Open Payments Cloud, was spun out of payment provider Ixaris in 2019. Weavr offers the infrastructure for enterprises to embed banking services across various industries, including education, fitness, logistics, etc. Weavr’s “Meta” platform combines multiple banking and payments partners in one platform through application programming interfaces (APIs). Using the APIs, enterprises can embed virtual banking services such as card payments, fund transfers, and international banking accounts.Weavr expanded its operations to Singapore in November 2022, as part of its global expansion plans.In March 2023, the company acquired Comma Payments in a primarily equity-based transaction to integrate the latter’s technology. The integration will allow customers to transition from making payments via existing bank accounts to using Weavr-provided accounts with enhanced controls and payment options.Key customers and partnershipsAs of February 2023, Weavr had served over 1,500 enterprises, including Wectory, AllGravy, Corplife, Finway, Thanks Ben, and MySkillCamp.&nbsp;In October 2019, Weavr partnered with payment service providers Global Processing Services (GPS), Paynetics, and iDenfy to enable developers to create and run sophisticated and streamlined payment experiences for their European customers through Weavr.In June 2023, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weavr.io/blog/weavr-and-visa-to-deliver-embedded-finance-to-the-global-stage/">partnered with Visa</a> to integrate its financial plug-ins with Visa's payment capabilities to create embedded finance solutions that are easy to deploy and cost-effective.

Weavr

MX offers an open finance portal, data connectivity application programming interface (API), and MX platform API for banks, credit unions, and other financial service providers. The company’s solutions allow its clients to utilize financial data to reduce fraud, approve loans faster, and improve their customer experiences. In addition to APIs and connections, MX also offers a range of capabilities, including data aggregation, analytics, financial feed insights, wealth and investment services, and verification services.MX looks to enable banks and financial institutions to launch next-generation services and apps that automate and personalize financial experiences.Key customers and partnershipsAs of January 2021, the company noted that it worked with more than 1800 banks, credit unions, and FinTech companies, and its platform reached over 200 million end-users. Moreover, it also powered 43 of the top 50 digital banks as of the same period.&nbsp;As of November 2024, the company maintained connections with more than 13,000 financial institutions and FinTechs. Moreover, the company had processed transactions worth USD 170 billion, averaging around USD 150 million per day.In November 2024, the company partnered with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pymnts.com/news/banking/2024/american-express-forms-data-sharing-partnership-with-mx/">American Express</a> to enable the latter’s customers to securely connect their accounts with third-party financial institutions and FinTech apps through MX's platform.In&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8753?industryIds=53">February 2022, MX partnered</a> with&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/361160">Rize</a>, to enable users to access Rize’s banking infrastructure to build, launch, and scale financial products through a single API, thereby reducing the development time and cost.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Bankable is a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) infrastructure provider allowing financial institutions and corporations to utilize its API to integrate banking services. It provides a platform for its enterprise customers to offer modular banking services, including ledger management (process data from multiple banks to support cash management for global corporate affairs), digital banking, payment cards, and e-wallets. The company expanded its platform by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19662">acquiring Arex Markets </a>in June 2023, to embed working capital solutions (such as flexible invoice financing, corporate credit cards, lodged cars, and revolving credit).The company has a global presence, with operations spanning from the US to the Middle East as of January 2021. Bankable noted that the expansion of its global footprint also helps its European and US FinTech clients expand their operations internationally.Key customers and partnershipsIn January 2020, the company partnered with the diversified FinTech infrastructure provider <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/85350">Plaid </a>, which enabled Bankable’s customers to use Plaid’s tech to connect to more than 15,000 banks in the US and Europe.

Bankable

Platforms that enable FinTechs to integrate a range of payment-related services such as one-time payments, subscriptions, and receipt management for domestic and cross-border transactions.


Companies that enable organizations to embed anti-money laundering (AML), identity verification, and know-your-customer (KYC) solutions.


Platforms that allow FinTechs to integrate lending services,  by typically applying AI/ML technology to a spending analysis to analyze creditworthiness.

Companies providing APIs and integrations for FinTechs to access securities markets, facilitate transactions and clearing, and provide insights to help end-users manage their finances.

May specialize in promoting inclusiveness in financial services, primarily in the investment and lending spaces

AI/ML can improve the quality of their offerings, such as using AI/ML to reduce biases

Used for payment completions, accessing banking and transaction data, and providing financial insights, among others

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>
 WealthKernel, a provider for digital investment services infrastructure, has joined hands with Griffin, a banking-as-a-service provider. This collaboration aims to augment its product range by incorporating savings account features into its investment platform.
 Through this cooperation, FinTech companies and wealth managers will have the capability to use WealthKernel's platform to provide savings accounts in conjunction with investment services. This attribute will grant customers the benefit to earn interest on their funds prior to deciding on long-term investments.
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 We believe this collaboration could greatly benefit both companies, given the rising trends among FinTechs, such as neobanks ( <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/34024"> Revolut </a> and <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/34013"> Bunq </a> ), diversifying their product portfolios by offering additional investment and budgeting tools alongside traditional banking services. This move enhances their value proposition to customers and positions them to compete effectively against other fintech infrastructure providers, such as <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/companies/85350"> Plaid </a> and <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/companies/86191"> Moven </a> , which offer a broader range of integrated financial services.

WealthKernel

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