Mastercard and Citi Ventures have joined a $35 million Series C funding round for Flybits, a startup that uses AI and machine learning to help banks personalise their customer offers.
Point72 Ventures led the round which was also joined by Reinventure (backed by Australia's Westpac), along with existing partners Portag3 Ventures, TD Bank and Information Venture Partners.
Toronto-based Flybits uses proprietary customer data - such as bank account activities and time as a customer - with machine learning and external contextual data - such as propensity to consume and risk profiles - to deliver relevant and timely recommendations to customers.
The firm claims TD, HSBC and Mastercard among its clients. An unnamed North American bank saw a 43% increase in user engagement after implementing its technology.
The new funding will be used to expand Flybits' teams in Emea, Latin America and the US, where co-founder, Gerti Dervishi, is scaling the New York office. The money will also help in commercialising the startup' portfolio of AI and machine learning patents and to develop a marketplace that facilitates partnerships between large banks, fintechs, and other data providers in the creation of new services.
"Personalization is mission-critical for all D2C businesses in the digital age. Flybits' integrated platform allows financial services firms to offer contextualized experiences, driving product awareness and adding significant value to the lives of their customers," says Ramneek Gupta, co-head, venture investing, Citi Ventures.