Aiming to become the banking and finance partner of choice for fintechs, London-based Banking-as-a-Service startup Griffin has just announced a raise of about €15 million. The startup has created a bank that financial companies can build on – bringing self-service software to the sector.
London’s fintech space is continuing to bring hot innovations, exciting startups and fresh approaches to finance. Taking a new perspective to Banking-as-a-Service, Griffin is rebuilding banking tech infrastructure from the ground up – bringing fintech organisations a self-service platform to easily embed financial services directly into their product. The startup has just raised €15 million in fresh capital.
The round was led by Notion Capital, with participation from existing investor EQT Ventures as well as fintech angels including William Hockey, co-founder of Plaid and founder and co-CEO of Column, Nilan Peiris, VP of Growth at Wise, Rob Straathof, CEO at Liberis and Shane Happach, CEO of Mollie and ex CCO Worldpay. Griffin also welcomes Notion Capital co-founder and managing partner Stephen Chandler to its board of directors.
Founded in 2017, Griffin wants to become the bank that fintechs can build on. The company is building a full-stack integrated BaaS platform, powered by modern user-friendly technology. The idea is that it will make it simple for fintech organisations to embed financial products, letting them instead focus on building products for their customers, rather than managing complex back-end infrastructure and compliance operations.
Stephen Chandler, Managing Partner at Notion Capital said: “SaaS is finally eating the financial services sector the way it has every other industry, and Griffin will empower fintechs to build and launch financial products with a single secure and modern SaaS platform.”
Founded by Silicon Valley engineers David Jarvis and Allen Rohner (who co-founded tech unicorn CircleCI) and a team of banking and technology executives from the Bank of England, the startup has also just submitted its application to the PRA and the FCA to become an authorised bank. By doing so, the startup differentiates itself in the market. Becoming a bank would enable Griffin to offer banking services and a more comprehensive BaaS platform than middleware competitors.
Griffin’s vision is to be a stable, long-term banking partner for innovative fintechs who often struggle with long, expensive onboarding processes and integration with legacy tech at established banks. Together, the application to become a bank alongside this fresh funding, show the company is well on its way to fulfilling this aim.
Tom Mendoza, EQT Ventures partner and Griffin board member added: “The financial services industry has not kept pace with consumer trends and tech innovation, creating demand for a developer-friendly bank built on modern APIs and intuitive software. Griffin aims to challenge the status quo by offering a full-stack banking platform that will make it fast, simple, and cost-effective for brands to launch financial products.”
Since its last funding round in 2020, the fintech firm has tripled in size and begun commercialising its platform, currently available for exclusive early access. This new round of investment will be used to grow the leadership and operational teams and continue the build of the core banking platform.
David Jarvis, Griffin CEO and co-founder commented: “With this injection of funding, we can continue to innovate, scale our business, and focus on building the best banking platform possible.”
