BBVA, Visa, Lakestar and ABN Amro have contributed to a EUR56.6 million funding round in German banking-as-a-service platform solarisBank.
Currently active in seven countries, solarisBank has raised a total of more than EUR95 million over the past two years.
The four new investors joined existing backers Arvato Financial Solutions and Japanese SBI Group in the latest round, which will be used in the development of new products for its corporate clients and for international expansion.
The bank claims to have nearly 60 businesses currently using its white-labeled suite of banking services and is on course to integrate with over 100 corporate clients by the end of the year.
Next to its digital banking and cards portfolio, solarisBank also offers its corporate customers financial and credit services, as well as payment and escrow - all accessible via an API. Companies currently connected to the platform include credit portal smava, ABN Amro's brand Moneyou, comparison portal Verivox, banking service provider Kontist, and digital gift card company fashioncheque.
For BBVA, the deal follows an £85.4m investment in UK digital bank Atom, which was announced just yesterday. Alongside the Spanish bank's undisclosed investment in the currrent solarisBank round, BBVA is also acquiring a stake in the busness from Unicredit’s German unit.
“The development of an open platform that allows third parties to access via APIs will be an increasingly relevant growth driver and this is what solarisBank has had huge success developing,” BBVA CEO Carlos Torres Vila says. “Being a partner of solarisBank will help us grow in the area of “banking as a service” more quickly”.