Highnote bags $90m in Series B to foray into US merchant acquiring
By Gloria Mathias
Highnote, a modern card issuance and program management company, has announced the closing of $90 million in Series B funding and the launch of its acquiring solution.
Adams Street Partners led the funding with participation from existing investors, including Oak HC/FT, Costanoa, WestCap, and Pinegrove Venture Partners.
“Highnote’s transformational platform and impressive growth trajectory motivated us to lead this funding round,” said Robin Murray, Partner at Adams Street Partners. “We are excited to support the company’s vision to lead innovation in embedded finance.”
With the launch of its acquiring solution, Highnote supports full pay-in and pay-out functionality for customers on the same platform as issuing. This leverages a unified, core general ledger and results in unmatched cost—and time-saving benefits. With Highnote’s modern embedded finance platform, enterprise customers and B2B platforms can manage all internal, vendor, and customer-facing financial transaction activity on a single, unified, reconciled payments platform.
The API-based acquiring platform allows companies to accept card payments online via plug-in checkout software or custom features they design. Built by the team that developed Braintree, Highnote’s acquiring platform is directly integrated into significant payment networks, creating streamlined data access, transparency, and better economics for customers. With certification by all major US card brands, Highnote’s expansion into acquiring positions the company as a unique solution for SMBs and enterprises looking for a holistic approach to embedded payments.
“We are excited to partner with Adams Street in our next phase of growth and about our entrance into the acquiring space, which accelerates the expansion of our world-class embedded finance and issuing platform,” said John MacIlwaine, CEO of Highnote. “The acquiring landscape has evolved and represents an opportunity for next-generation customers to accelerate growth through embedded acquiring in addition to embedded issuing.”
With this additional funding and the completion of its unified issuing and acquiring platform, Highnote will serve the demanding and innovative use cases in embedded finance, from fast-growing vertical solution providers to enterprise brands and marketplaces and financial institutions seeking a flexible, robust, scalable platform for growth and competitive differentiation.
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