Synctera Aims $33M Series A At Developing Banking-as-a-Service

Synctera raised $33 million in Series A funding. The new investment comes six months after announcing its $12.4 million seed round.

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Fin VC led the new round and was joined by Mastercard and Gaingels, along with follow-on investments from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Diagram Ventures, SciFi Ventures and Scribble Ventures.

“As soon as we met Peter [Hazlehurst], Kris [Hansen] and Dominik [Weisserth], and learned about their solution for the market, we were immediately sold,” said Logan Allin, managing general partner and founder at Fin VC, in a written statement. “The specific focus on community banks and the world-class tech behind the platform really convinced us that they’re building something that will stand the test of time and prove invaluable to financial services of the future.”

The investment also included a group of angel investors, including Omri Dahan, Nuno Sebastiao and Tim Sheehan. The investment brings Synctera’s total funding to date to $45.4 million, according to Crunchbase data.

Providing embedded finance and “Banking-as-a-Service” tools, Synctera’s platform matches community banks with fintech companies to enable both to scale and grow by streamlining day-to-day reconciliation, operations and regulatory compliance. Synctera CEO Hazlehurst said he was on a mission to cut a nine- to 10-month process down to 20 days, and the company is already in the three-month range.

“Our last raise created a lot of inbound demand, which spurred us to raise money now,” he told Crunchbase News. “The goal for 2021 was to get 15 to 20 banks on the platform, and we are kicking it into high gear in the third quarter because we have 40 banks interested.”

In addition, 60 fintech companies are interested in matching with a home bank, he added. All of that demand also means the company is ramping up its staff and attracting more banks to the platform so there is a diverse mix of risk tolerance.

The company currently has 50 people, up from less than 10 when Synctera raised its seed round, Hazlehurst said. It is adding two to three people each week, and he intends to grow to more than 150 by the end of the year.

Just past its 1-year-old birthday, Synctera also has a line-up of new features on tap for the next couple of months, including card processing support so companies can issue debit cards, lines of credit, overdraft, back-end automated billing and remittances.

“When a new fintech company is founded and wants a place to land, we will be your home, and when you are ready, will help you find a bank partner,” Hazlehurst added.

In addition to the Series A, the company said it committed to the “Cap Table Coalition,” which includes funding from more than 20 angel investors, to ensure the fintech and banking sector is creating and investing in diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces, he said.

Illustration: Dom Guzman