Banked raises $20m in funding round co-led by Bank of America

Banked, the alternative payment provider to cards, has raised $20m in a funding round co-led by Bank of America.

London-based Banked is building a digital payment network to challenge systems already in place.

It uses open banking to facilitate account-to-account payments at checkout, with the merchants receiving payment in “real time”.

It only carries a 0.1 per cent processing fee with every transaction, considerably lower than its competitors. 

Its series A funding round was also co-led by Edenred Capital Partners.

Existing investors Acrew, Force Over Mass, Firestartr, OM2, Love Ventures Kuvi Capital and Paul Forster were joined by new investors including Sidekick Partners, 9Yards and Huey Lin.

In total Banked, founded in 2018, says it has raised $30m to date.

The market for account-to-account payments is growing, with research by Allied Market Research predicts the market will reach $43 billion by 2026 in Europe alone.

it says that the involvement of new US-based investors supports its US expansions plans, but did not divulge further details.

Banked’s clients include British Airways along with payment providers.

Its collaboration with British Airways Executive Club allows its customers to collect Avios when they use their Banked account. 

“Banked has built a product that can operate inside tier 1 banks, payment providers, gateways and technology platforms to allow them to offer Pay by Bank to their merchants,” Brad Goodall, Banked CEO said.

“We have had a maniacal focus on infrastructure, security, and end-consumer experience. Our clients only need to focus on integration. 

“We really want to work inside the existing ecosystem and are building out very strong partnerships to deliver Pay by Bank globally. 

“2022 will see some really big brands go live with Pay by Bank, driving at the heart of delivering innovation at point of purchase to both the merchant and consumer.”