London-based Griffin raises €7.2M to help fintechs and brands launch financial services; seeks full bank license

As the banking requirements of modern customers are changing with time, fintech services are gearing up to be available on-demand. This trend has paved the way for a wave of digital solutions that let people manage their own finances. Making use of this opportunity, a number of banking-as-a-service startups have mushroomed in Europe, and Griffin is one such startup based in London.

Raises €7.2M funding

The banking-as-a-service startup Griffin has bagged £6.5M (nearly €7.2M) funding in a round led by EQT Ventures. The other investors that participated in the funding round are Tribe Capital, Seedcamp, Indeed.com co-founder Paul Forster, GoCardless/Nested co-founder Matt Robinson, and Index Ventures partner Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, who is also the former COO of GoCardless. This funding round follows the previous investment of £3M (nearly €3.3M) that it raised earlier this year.

Griffin has announced that it will use the fresh investment to develop its product further, expand its team, and continue the bank authorisation process with FCA and PRA. David Jarvis, co-founder and CEO at Griffin says, “These systems all need to be kept in sync with each other, which is why it’s crazy that everyone ends up stitching together ad-hoc solutions rather than leveraging a single vertically integrated solution. With Griffin, we want to be the one-stop-shop for companies seeking to bring something new to the market.”

API-first bank on cards

Griffin was established by David Jarvis and Allen Rohner in 2017. The company is building its proprietary API platform, which will let firms open ringfenced accounts for customer funds. It will also integrate the compliance engine and ledger to reduce recordkeeping and reconciliation burdens. This London-based fintech startup aims to become the banking partner of choice for both established brands and new fintech players that want to innovate in the sector.

Griffin was discovered by EQT Ventures’ proprietary AI platform, Motherbrain. Claimed to be built to discover new, rapidly-growing, and under-the-radar startups, Motherbrain has enabled EQT Ventures to take a data-driven approach to investing. To date, Motherbrain has driven more than $100M in portfolio company investments and Griffin is the ninth company to be sourced by this AI platform.

Main image picture credits: Griffin