A London FinTech firm that offers a platform to better connect business and banks has raised $5.4m in seed funding.
Yapily was founded in 2017 by ex-Goldman Sachs executive direct Stefano Vaccino with the intention of seizing the power of the UK’s new open banking rules for business.
Open banking encourages the secure sharing on financial information between providers, companies and consumers.
Customers using Yapily’s API include accountancy firms, cryptocurrency providers, digital wealth and eCommerce firms.
It is currently connected to 35 of the biggest banks in Europe and expects to have connected to 536 banks by the end of the year.
The funding comes from HV Holtzbrinck Ventures and LocalGlobe to help further develop its platform. It also includes Taavet Hinrikus, founder and CEO of money transfer platform TransferWise.
“I was inspired to build Yapily when I realised how revolutionary open banking would be and its social impact,” said Vaccino.
“Yapily offers a frictionless journey that lowers the open banking technical barrier without interfering with a company’s relationship with their consumer.”
“I believe that we can democratise finance by making it possible for consumers to share their information in seconds through APIs.
“This can speed up loan approvals for small businesses, or even reduce the cost of all e-commerce transactions by 1 – 2%, a saving which can be passed on to the consumer.
‘There is also a great opportunity here to help people overcome financial exclusion by giving consumers full visibility of their incomings and outgoings, and even warning them if they are embarking on financially risk behaviour.”
Remus Brett, investor at LocalGlobe and Barbod Namini, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures partner, said: “We are on the brink of open banking and this is creating a huge opportunity to innovate finance, around the world.
“We are incredibly excited about the scale of what Yapily offers and think that its focus on API technology can deliver a game-changing solution for enterprises and ultimately for the end consumer.”