Galileo Financial Technologies on Thursday said it had closed a $77 million funding round that it plans to use to expand into new markets outside North America while building out its product offerings currently used by some of the top challenger banks in the U.S.
Fintechs such as Chime, Robinhood, Transferwise and Varo Money use Galileo’s application programming interfaces to assist with opening and verifying new accounts and the issuance and processing of payment cards.
“Our client base is a testament to what we’ve done with our APIs,” Clay Wilkes, Galileo’s founder and CEO, told American Banker.
Wilkes added that part of the funding also will be used to launch additional products related to sales and marketing that target companies specializing in the gig economy, marketplace e-commerce sites and traditional fintech companies that seek to add payments services.
Galileo recently introduced a white-label digital banking product developed exclusively for financial advisers. The Carson Group, a family of companies advising individual investors,
The venture capital firm Accel led the round, with participation from Ryan Smith, co-founder and CEO of the management software company Qualtrics.
“We’re in a golden era of fintech innovation and Galileo has quietly built the API infrastructure layer powering the industry’s most innovative products,” Accel partner John Locke said in a press release.
Locke is joining Galileo’s board of directors as part of Accel’s investment. Galileo does business in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. and is eyeing expansion to Latin America, the U.K. and throughout Europe.
Wilkes said the company has a particular interest in Brazil where fintechs continue to establish themselves.
