Insignia Ventures Partners led a $20 million Series B fundraising round for Brankas, an open financial technology business established in Indonesia that works regionally. Visa, AFG Partners, and Treasury International are among the co-investors (backed by veteran fintech founders Jeff Cruttenden of Acorns and Eli Broverman of Betterment). BEENEXT and Integra Partners, both existing investors, were also present.
The business plans to expand its product range in payments, data, and banking-as-a-service API offerings with the new funding, as well as increase its capacity by doubling its workforce of over 100 employees in 17 countries.
Brankas will also expand its network of over 40 financial institutions and over 100 technology companies that use its embedded finance APIs to design, roll out, and manage digital experiences across a variety of use cases, such as digital banking, online credit scoring, e-commerce, and gig economy payment.
Todd D Schweitzer, the CEO, and Kenneth Shaw, the CTO, founded Brankas in 2016. The firm offers API-based solutions, data, and payment solutions for financial service providers (banks, lenders, and e-wallets) and online enterprises after graduating from Plug and Play’s first incubator in Southeast Asia. The fintech business assists banks in the design and maintenance of their open financial infrastructure, which includes APIs for real-time payments, identity and data, account creation, remittances, and other services. This enables financial institutions to improve their digital capabilities, reach out to new customers, and generate new revenue sources.
Brankas connects internet enterprises, fintech organizations, and digital banks to access essential data for verification and scoring procedures, allowing them to reach previously unreachable client segments.
Early this year, Brankas plans to announce deals with significant digital banks and fintech leaders in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Brankas’ APIs may be used in e-commerce to validate and secure payments on their platforms, in addition to financial services. Clients have reportedly come from Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Brankas also claims to be the first company in the region to provide banking-as-a-service APIs for account opening and credit card issuing.
“Embracing Open Finance in Southeast Asia” report, which Brankas and Integras Partners conducted in July 2021, noted that open finance has sparked interest in the SEA region’s central banks. However, the adoption strategies differ from nation to nation, with some favouring a market-led approach and others opting for a regulatory-driven one.
The company was selected as one of five participants in Visa’s 2021 Accelerator Program in April. It then teamed up with Visa to create a digital credit card issuing solution that took advantage of Visa’s data capabilities.
Over 70% of Southeast Asian consumers lack access to financial services, according to Bain & Company, and millions of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) face serious financial shortages.
