A new fintech "acceleration partner" chaired by Atom and Metro Bank co-founder Anthony Thomson has added its first two portfolio companies, backing SME banking and payments firm wamo and climate-focused outfit ekko.
Called archie, the new venture was set up last year to identify and partner with a portfolio of early-stage fintechs globally, working alongside founders to help supercharge their growth.
Thomson founded the firm with former Uber, PayPal and Zip exec Steve Brennen, Tandem Bank chair Paul Pester, Silicon Badia founder Fawaz Zu’bi, and Zip executive Tommy Mermelshtayn.
While the specifics of the deals with wamo and ekko are not disclosed, archie operates an equity model, exchanging its operational support, networks, expertise and proven playbooks as services for equity.
Steve Brennen, CEO, archie, says: “As we know, capital alone isn’t enough to help fintechs successfully scale. And sadly, scale-up mode is where many great ideas and businesses fail. archie’s here to fix that."
UK-based wamo - which recently raised $5 million - specialises in powering SME growth across Europe, making it easy to access business accounts with a particular specialism in cross-border payments.
Meanwhile, ekko - which counts Thomson among its board members - provides sustainability solutions for businesses, offering tools such as carbon tracking and offsetting.
Oli Cook, CEO, ekko, says: “We’re hugely excited to partner with archie. The team has already provided immense value in the short time we’ve been working together - to me, our board, and on our Go to Market strategy."