Stockholm based startup atlari Raised a $5 million (€5 million) seed round led by Index Ventures. The firm is engaged on a utility programming interface (API) that facilitates bank-to-bank funds for European companies.
In addition to Index Ventures, La Famiglia VC, Coco and several business angels also participated in the round, such as Revolut CFO Mikko Salovara, former EVP of global sales at Adian Thijn Lammers, and Jan Kemper, N26 CFO.
While European customers are already well aware of the introduction of open banking and fees, many B2B transfers are still processed manually. Business banking has not experienced the same level of innovation with respect to funds.
And but, company banks already supply ways to infuse funds without connecting to an internet portal and adding a spreadsheet. But banks don’t necessarily run trendy REST APIs. They rely on a really specially formatted text file on an SFTP server.
If you have a development workforce, they can build a customized integration. But many corporations simply do not have the sources to maintain these connections. They will pay a partner to some extent to deal with all the technical details.
Atlar gives a contemporary API that hides all the complexities related to financial institution connections. Once an organization uses Atlar, it can close the course of transfers, transactions and direct debits directly through Atlar’s API.
Specifically, Atlar can be used for payments, insurance coverage premiums, deposits and mortgage payments. Companies operating in many European countries probably have multiple bank accounts. So automation funds can be a pleasant improvement for these companies.
“Accepting payments as a business is now pretty painless, but getting them started with your bank is still very slow and manual,” Atler co-founder and CEO Joel Nordstrom said in a press release. “This is why Atlar is on a journey to become the operating system for bank-based payments. By creating a new category, we hope to bring a wave of innovation to our customers that will ultimately benefit European consumers and businesses.
In addition to Joel Nordstrom, Joel Wagmark and Johannes Elgh are 2 different co-founders. They were all working at open banking firm Tink, which was acquired by Visa for $2.2 billion.
Competes with Atlar score, a French startup that I lined up earlier this year. So far, Atlar has focused on the Nordics, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. And today’s funding round on European growth could be useful.
