• Enfuce closed a $9.2 million follow-on investment, adding to the $49 million it received in 2021.
• Vitruvian Partners led the round, which saw contributions from existing investor Maki.vc and new contributor Visa.
• Enfuce will use the funds to prepare for growth in the enterprise segment, as well as expand into more European markets.

Card issuing and payments processing innovator Enfuce recently announced it received a $9.2 million (€8.5 million) follow-on investment. The new funds are added to the Finnish company’s $49 million (€45 million) Series C round in 2021 and bring Enfuce’s total funding to $67 million (€62 million).

Leading today’s follow-on round is Vitruvian Partners. Existing investor Maki.vc, along with new contributor Visa, also participated.

Commenting on the new investor, Enfuce Co-founder and Co-CEO Monika Liikamaa said, “Visa’s trust isn’t just a validation of  our business, it’s a testament to our significant growth during challenging economic times. With Visa’s investment, we will continue to bring our bold vision of shaping the future of embedded finance to life.” Enfuce Co-founder and Co-CEO Denise Johansson added, “This investment represents more than mere financial backing for us. It’s the continuation of an extensive and productive partnership between Visa and Enfuce.”

Enfuce was founded in 2016 with the intent to offer a cloud-based processing system that could allow any business to start issuing payment cards. In addition to payment card issuing, the company also offers digital wallets, fraud and dispute managements, card program analytics, and more. Enfuce processes $2.2 billion (nearly €2 billion) in transactions annually for clients including Pleo, OKQ8 and Memo Bank.

Enfuce will use today’s follow-on investment to prepare for its next area of growth, the enterprise segment. Additionally, the company plans to expand across European markets including Benelux, Germany, and France.

The rise in banking-as-a-service (BaaS) tools, such as the ones provided by Enfuce, offers businesses across a range of industries access to financial infrastructure. Integrating financial services into non-financial platforms not only enhances the customer experience but it also offers businesses new revenue streams. As we enter into 2024, BaaS and embedded finance solutions are set to rise. However, as regulators begin to take notice and find new risk factors, adoption of this trend will likely be cautious.

Photo by Anna Shvets

• Canadian fintech Peloton Technologies has raised CAD $2 million in seed funding.
• The funds will help the company meet its growth objectives. The investment also serves as a “precursor” to a “larger capital raise” next year.
• Founded in 2011, Peloton Technologies offers a platform that enables small businesses to simplify payment workflows.

Victoria, Canada-based fintech Peloton Technologies has landed $1.5 million (CAD $2 million) in seed funding. The investment will help fuel the company’s growth as it seeks to simplify payment workflows for small and medium-sized businesses.

Peloton did not disclose the names of the investors. The company did say that members of the investing team have joined Peloton Technologies’ advisory board. The seed funding comes four months after the company secured $1.5 million (CAD $2 million) from the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada (PacifiCan). The funding from PacifiCan was the second investment Peloton received from the agency. The company picked up CAD $500,000 in funding from PacifiCan’s Business Scale Up and Productivity (BSP) program in 2022 ($367k in today’s dollars).

“We’re thrilled with the response from the Private Investor community,” Peloton Technologies Executive Chair of the Board John MacKinlay said. “We have a world-class group of investors with deep background in payments, banking, risk management, compliance, accounting, IT architecture, and securities law.” MacKinlay added that the funding will also help Peloton Technologies execute its acquisition strategy; last month, Peloton announced the acquisition of KIS Payments, an ISO (Independent Sales Organization). MacKinlay also noted that this week’s fundraising was a “precursor” to a “larger capital raise” slated for the first half of 2024.

“We’ve spent a lot of time creating the most comprehensive solution for businesses and now it’s time to scale,” CEO Craig Attiwill said when the company acquired KIS Payments in October.

Founded in 2011, Peloton Technologies helps small and medium-sized businesses in Canada process payments, execute fund transfers, exchange currencies, and store payment data. Its platform also supports the integration of multiple payment methods across multiple financial institutions. Peloton’s proprietary technology ensures the secure storage of payment data, document management, email/SMS notifications, and scheduling, as well as providing a sophisticated rules engine.

Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS

• Cloud payments modernization specialist Volante Technologies raised $66 million in debt and equity financing.
• The round was led by Sixth Street Growth. Wavecrest Growth Partners and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital also participated.
• Volante Technologies will use the capital to accelerate its product roadmap, especially with regards to real-time payments solutions.

Cloud payments modernization company Volante Technologies has raised $66 million in combined debt and equity financing. The round was led by Sixth Street Growth. Wavecrest Growth Partners and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital also participated in the investment. Today’s funding brings the company’s total outside capital raised to $116 million.

Vijay Oddiraju, Volante Technologies CEO, said that the investment will help “accelerate” the company’s product roadmap. This includes the company’s initiatives in global real-time payments, the UK New Payments Architecture (NPA), as well as domestic and cross-border ISO 20022 modernization. Oddiraju added that the funding will help Volante Technologies bring its Payments-as-a-Service solution to mid-tier banks in the U.S. and Europe. Oddiraju pointed to FedNow Instant Payments, The Clearing House RTP, and SEPA Instant Payments as developments that are driving opportunity in and adoption of “modern payments technology.”

Volante helps financial institutions modernize payments. This enables them to focus on executing their business models, pursue new opportunities, and scale their operations. The company offers real-time/instant payments connectivity, embedded preprocessing that works with existing technology to enhance customer service, as well as U.S. wire payments. Volante’s low-code financial integration platform enables users to leverage visual modeling to integrate with and orchestrate workflows to build a variety of financial, transaction-based services.

Nari Ansari, Managing Director at Sixth Street Growth, praised both the the company’s PaaS and low-code payments platform as offering “a compelling value proposition.” Ansari added that it was a good time for Volante to look to scale its operations in order to take advantage of FIs that are “increasingly prioritizing both investment in payments modernization and partnerships with fintech companies.”

Founded in 2001, Volante Technologies is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. The company’s Payments-as-a-Service and low-code platform process millions of transactions and trillions in value every day. Four of the top five global corporate banks and two of the world’s largest card networks rely on Volante Technologies’ payments solutions.

Last month, the company was named to The IDC FinTech Rankings Top 100 for 2023. This marked the third year Volante had earned a spot in the IDC’s Fintech Top 100. In September, the company introduced new Chief Operating Officer David Weber.

Photo by Karol D