Griffin Bank, a UK-based “Banking as a Service” platform, has recently announced a successful funding round led by MassMutual Ventures, NordicNinja, and Breega, with participation from existing investors Notion Capital and EQT Ventures. This latest round has raised over £19 million, bringing the company’s total raised funds to around $52 million.
Launched in 2017 by former Silicon Valley engineers and backed by investors such as Seedcamp and early engineer at Standard Treasury David Jarvis, Griffin Bank offers a full-stack solution for fintech companies to offer banking, payments, and wealth solutions. And they’re doing it in a big way: Griffin Bank not only secured a £19 million funding round, but they have also been given the green light from the UK’s financial services regulators to officially launch as a fully operational bank.
Meanwhile, other fintech giants like Revolut have been struggling to secure a banking license after trying for three years. But Griffin Bank, with its deep technology-driven product, has managed to make it happen within a year.
But Griffin Bank is not just another neobank competing for consumer’s attention. Instead, they have their sights set on the booming industry of “embedded finance.” This means that rather than offering banking accounts directly to consumers, Griffin Bank will be providing financial solutions to other businesses, such as savings accounts and accounts for holding client money.
- Jarvis, co-founder of Griffin Bank and an early engineer at Standard Treasury, brings a wealth of experience to the table. He has also worked at Airbnb, focusing on infrastructure.
- Rohner, the other co-founder, also has an impressive background, having founded software startup CircleCI and co-authored a book on the use of ClojureScript, the language used by Griffin Bank to build its systems.
According to Jarvis, Griffin Bank will be focusing on the advantages of embedded finance, such as increased customer lifetime value and decreased churn. They will also be targeting a wide range of businesses in need of financial solutions, including accountants, solicitors, and companies in the property sector.
While the UK’s banking industry has traditionally been slow to embrace technology, the launch of Open Banking standards a few years ago has led to the rise of other neobanks such as Starling and Monzo. But now, with the success of embedded finance, Griffin Bank is poised to become a major player in the market.
“We play up the parts of embedded finance that are synergistic to our thesis. We’ll work with a salary finance business that already has a relationship with the employee because they’re doing earned-wage access. And they want to do, let’s say, embedded savings accounts. So they’re leveraging an existing financial relationship to bundle additional financial services in an embedded way. That makes sense. Do we want to help people issue cards for their brand? No.”
– David Jarvis, Co-founder of Griffin Bank
In addition to the new funding round, Griffin Bank has also been granted a banking license, setting them apart from other neobanks that are not licensed. This license enables them to offer their customers the ability to earn interest on their funds, an advantage that traditional neobanks cannot provide.
As the use of embedded finance continues to grow, Griffin Bank is well positioned to capitalize on this trend. With other companies like Treasury Prime, Synctera, and Omnio also securing major funding rounds, the future of banking as a service looks bright. And with Griffin Bank leading the charge, it’s safe to say that they will be a major player in this rapidly growing industry.
