Synctera, a startup that helps connect community banks and emerging fintechs, has exited stealth mode with the news that it has raised $12.4 million in seed funding.
The round was led by Lightspeed, with support from Diagram Ventures and a host of big name angel investors, including Affirm boss Max Levchin and Plaid CEO Zachary Perret.
Synctera says that smaller banks and credit unions have often been reluctant or unable to form potential partnerships due to a lack of technical or operational resources. Working with fintechs raises regulatory compliance questions and brings operational overheads and complexity.
The startup is promising to make the process simpler, offering a partnership banking marketplace connecting community banks with fintech platforms, reducing risk, ensuring compliance and speeding up launches to market.
The firm is the brainchild of CEO Peter Hazlehurst, former head of Uber Money, head of Google Wallet and CPO at Yodlee, and his co-founders CTO Kris Hansen and head of product, Dominik Weisserth.
Ansaf Kareem, lead investor, Lightspeed, says: "Peter’s unrivaled and deep experience at Yodlee, Google Wallet, and Uber Money gives him the unique advantage of knowing what is needed, how to build it, and where existing solutions fall short. We are at a critical cross-roads in the ecosystem where banks and fintechs are eager to partner with each other, and Synctera is providing that bridge.
As it exits stealth, Synctera has unveiled its first match: Coastal Community Bank and One, a new digital banking platform fostering financial wellness.
“When we originally started working with fintechs, we were not set up to handle the amount of backend work needed to manage our relationships,” says Eric Sprink, CEO, Coastal Community Bank. “Synctera has allowed us to focus our energy on serving our core market by helping us with partner management. By launching with Synctera, we’re expecting to be able to double the number of FinTech companies we take on."
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