Bud, the U.K. fintech that helps banks
connect their apps and data to other fintech companies and financial
service providers, has closed over $20 million in further funding.
The Series around sees the company pick up backing from a number of banks:
HSBC (which, via First Direct, it also counts as a customer), Goldman Sachs,
ANZ, Investec’s INVC fund, and InnoCells (the corporate venture arm of Banco
Sabadell).
Others participating include Lord Fink (the former chief executive of hedge
fund Man Group), and 9Yards Capital (the VC firm to which George Osborne is an
advisor).
Originally launched back in 2016 as a consumer app that wanted to make
various financial services accessible from a single aggregated
interface, the London-based startup has since pivoted to a tech platform it
offers to banks to help them remain more competitive in the Open Banking/PSD2
era. Its tech lets banks create new apps and services that enable customers to
manage all of their financial products within a single app.
Essentially, Bud acts as the tech
layer that intelligently connects bank account data to third-party financial
services, including those provided by fintechs and more traditional financial
providers, as well as doing a lot of the other heavy-lifting required to create
new consumer experiences from bank data.
“The work we have done with First Direct… is a showcase of features and
functionalities made possible by new regulation, data science and relevant
connections to fintech and banking services,” Bud CTO and co-founder George
Dunning tells me.
“We have built a number of data enrichment features using transactional data
to make people’s lives that little bit easier. Connection and aggregation of
people’s accounts is the standard now, so we focussed on things like increasing
financial literacy. ‘Smart Balance’ is a feature that shows users what they can
safely spend and ‘Goals’ help them plan ahead. Our advanced regular payment
finder filters and tracks bill payments and if you can save money Bud connects
you to a service that will make it happen”.
Many of these features are powered by Bud’s ability to use data to detect
patterns and behaviours. “Something as simple as detecting if someone is going
abroad and helping them get insurance for their trip using one of our partners
from within the app is much better than if you do it the traditional way,” says
Dunning.
Other than HSBC-owned First Direct, the Bud co-founder isn’t able to disclose any of the company’s other bank customers. “We are working with a handful of banks across the industry, using open banking and our marketplace of services to solve problems for their customers which couldn’t be solved before now,” he says.
Source: techcrunch.com
