Stripe among the backers as TrueLayer secures $130m in investment

Stripe has participated in a $130 million (€110.7 million) fundraise for TrueLayer, a fintech company that recently received Central Bank of Ireland authorisation as a payments institution and is establishing its European headquarters in Dublin.

The funding round, which was led by Tiger Global Management, brings the total raised by TrueLayer to $270 million and values the company at more than $1 billion.

TrueLayer last month announced it was establishing an Irish operation with an initial plan to hire about 25 people across risk, compliance, legal, finance and commercial roles. The move came after it received authorisation that allows the London-headquartered company to incorporate payment processing into its network.

European Union rules on open banking, which commenced in 2018, require traditional financial institutions to allow access to customer data by registered third party providers to boost competition.

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Founded in 2016, TrueLayer has developed an open banking platform that allows fintech apps, developed by companies such as Revolut, to connect with customers’ bank accounts to initiate transfers and so on. This is done via an application programme interface (API), which provides third-party fintech and payment providers with an easy way to integrate their digital services with banks in a secure and safe manner.

Rivals

TrueLayer’s platform now covers more than 90 per cent of all major European markets, and accounts for more than half of all open banking traffic in Britain, Ireland and Spain. The company’s rivals include Plaid, which Visa sought to acquire earlier this year in a $5.3 billion deal but for which it was barred on anti-trust grounds.

The company is led locally by Joe Morley and and Leigh-Anne Cotter, who both previously worked for WhatsApp and its parent Facebook in Dublin.

“The fundraise allows us to commit even further to our markets in Europe...and allows us to start thinking about broader expansion. But our focus in the short to medium term is to make sure we win in Europe so we’re really doubling down on what we had already initiated with our last funding round,” Mr Morley said.

He told The Irish Times the global payments industry continues to work off a creaky old infrastructure that has seen little innovation since the 1960s.

“At a very basic level we’re taking on cards. We’re bringing a valid alternative for payments, which allow for seamless, instantaneous transactions direct from your bank account,” said Mr Morley.

He said that over the long term, the traditional payments system is facing serious disruption, with the company’s Irish operation set to play a key role as TrueLayer grows. “We’re looking at 25 jobs initially as a base team to help support the operations in Britain but as we hire and scale there the Irish team will also grow.”

Stripe, which has been busy on the investment front recently, having also backed Ramp and Step, and acquired TaxJar, last week announced “hundreds” of jobs for Dublin in addition to the more than 1,000 roles confirmed in March.

It has also this week announced a new fintech development office in London to develop new products and expand existing ones in open banking, embedded finance and bank partner integrations.