Open Banking Firm Vyne Completes $15.5M Seed Round

Open banking firm Vyne on Thursday (Sept. 23) completed what’s being called the largest seed funding valuation for any U.K.-based platform of its kind at $15.5 million, according to a Crowdfund Insider report.

The company is processing millions of pounds in transactions every month at a growth rate of about 95% month-over-month.

Vyne’s seed funding round was led by Hearst Ventures, Entrée Capital, Triplepoint, Seedcamp, Venrex, Founder Collective and Partech, and included angel investments from Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla and CEO of Cazoo, Charlie Dellingpole, CEO and founder of ComplyAdvantage, and Will Neale, founder of Grabyo.

Vyne will use the money to aid its growth through international expansion of its real-time, seamless payment platform that sends money to and from merchants and consumers.

Payments on Vyne can be “completed by consumers in three clicks, and merchants can engage customers through more digital channels such as QR codes and pay-by-link, which can be sent by email, SMS or in person,” the company says, noting open banking fuels account-to-account payments for online businesses.

“This seed round will further propel Vyne on its mission to make account-to-account payments the best way to pay and get paid around the world,” said Karl MacGregor, CEO at Vyne, in the company announcement.

“The caliber of investment we have received is testament to not only the team’s hard work to date but also the opportunity open banking presents to overhaul the traditional banking and payment infrastructure that merchants and consumers have been beholden to for decades,” he said.

Megumi Ikeda, managing director at Hearst Ventures, said Vyne is at the cutting edge of the payments revolution.

“The team’s commercial success is testament to their expertise and commitment to innovation, and we’re delighted to be supporting their continued growth,” she said.

Related: Barclays Taps Amazon Exec to Lead UK POS Finance Unit

In related news, Barclays has named Amazon Europe payments head Antony Stephen as CEO of its point-of-sale finance division and its legal entity, Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd., effective Oct. 4.

During his three-year Amazon Europe tenure, he led a $50 billion portfolio of payment products — credit cards, installment loans and a financial services marketplace.