Big banks plug $18m into Soho fintech Fidel
The venture capital arms of Royal Bank of Canada and Citi have supported an $18m (£16.3m) funding round for Soho-headquartered fintech firm Fidel.
The series A round was led by Nyca Partners and QED Investors, which have previously backed the likes of Zopa, Clearscore and Acorns.
Transferwise founder Taavet Hinrikus and Commerce VC also supported the round, among others. Fidel said it will use the funding to support hiring, growth, product development and international expansion in North America, the Nordics and the Asia Pacific region.
The startup connects developers directly to payments data from Visa, Mastercard and American Express to enable them to link up customers’ credit or debit card details to their software.
“By making it easy for developers to build on top of the infrastructure, the card networks stay relevant,” said Fidel chief executive and founder Subrata Dev.
“By removing the barriers to entry for developers, applications can be brought to market more quickly. That drives value back to consumers, who get the same benefits and user experience they are used to receiving with other online services.”
Clients of Fidel include British Airways, Klarna and Royal Bank of Canada, the latter of which has built three apps using Fidel’s technology. British Airways uses Fidel to provide Avios points on customers’ linked debit or credit card transactions.
Former Visa president and Nyca managing partner Hans Morris will join Fidel’s board of directors as part of the deal, alongside QED’s Yusuf Ozdalga.