Feedback: TrueLayer crowned new British Unicorn

Account aggregator TrueLayer is one of the forerunners of the Open Banking and payment initiation movement in the UK. With both AISP and PISP status, the FinTech has completed a recent fundraising round that has allowed it to join the circle of Unicorns.

THE FACTS

• TrueLayer has just announced a new $130 million round of funding. The round was made with high-profile investors, led by Tiger Global Management and payment giant Stripe.

• Millions of consumers and businesses already use TrueLayer to pay for goods and services. By expanding into Europe, the FinTech has managed to double its customer base. It now operates its business in 14 countries.

• Since its launch in 2016, the FinTech has processed billions of pounds of payments.

• In fact, TrueLayer has seen a 400% growth in monthly transaction volume and an 800% increase in value each month since the beginning of the year.

• TrueLayer's teams of 10,000 developers are working daily to create new services based on open banking standards.

• TrueLayer has launched its own payment method, PayDirect, which helps businesses streamline their payment processes using account verification, instant account funding, instant withdrawals and instant refunds.

CHALLENGES

• Reaching a new status: With its new funding, TrueLayer sees its valuation exceed $1 billion and thus establishes itself as a new British Unicorn. The FinTech had last raised some $70 million in April.

• Making Open Banking "mainstream": TrueLayer specifies in the announcement of its new fundraising that it is committed to the democratization of Open Banking. Indeed, the Unicorn has set itself the goal of using its new financing to extend the adoption of Open Banking by transforming transaction habits.

• Flipping the card: TrueLayer does not hesitate to denigrate card payment methods, designed for purchases in the physical world but unsuited, according to it, to new modes of consumption online or from a mobile. Its marketing arguments actually hide real weaknesses regarding the fragmentation of the purchasing experience in certain situations. TrueLayer believes that its offer meets the expectations of transparent and fluid payment management in many contexts, illustrating all the opportunities of Open Banking. It thus underlines its ambition to replace card payments by creating a new network for instant payments on a global scale.

• Going international: In addition to its European conquest, TrueLayer also plans to launch its services in Australia in the coming months. The United States is also a target, in the longer term.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• TrueLayer has established itself in numerous niches to make itself indispensable when investing on FreeTrade, for example, or carrying out a banking transaction with Revolut, or recently, when buying a car online on Cazoo.

• Its French alter ego, Société Bridge by Bankin, is launching an instant payment solution called Pay by Link, which will provide merchants with a turnkey solution for paying bills by instantaneous transfer.