Thought Machine raises $200m in series C funding round to bring banks to the cloud

By Joy Dumasia

Thought Machine, the cloud-native core banking technology firm, announces the close of its series C funding round, bringing $200m into the business from new and existing investors. This new round sees Thought Machine achieve unicorn status.

This round was led by Nyca Partners, a New York and San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Investment also came from the investment arms of some of Thought Machine’s global tier-one banking clients ING Ventures, JPMorgan Chase and Standard Chartered Ventures. Existing investors Lloyds Banking Group, British Patient Capital, Eurazeo, SEB, Molten Ventures (formerly Draper Esprit), Backed, and IQ Capital participated in the round.

This announcement follows a period of accelerated growth as Thought Machine executes its internationalisation strategy and continues to deploy cloud-native core banking technology into the world’s banks and FinTechs. In October 2021, Thought Machine relocated to a larger London HQ to support its headcount growth after more than 200 employees since 2020.

Thought Machine will be using the funding to continue developing and expanding Vault. The firm intends to develop Vault and its Universal Product Engine further, which allows for unparalleled flexibility in product development and configuration. The company will expand its international reach, strengthen its five global offices, and target new key markets to accelerate the adoption of cloud-native core banking globally.

Founded in 2014 by former Google engineer Paul Taylor, Thought Machine provides modern, cloud-native core banking technology to some of the largest banks in the world. Many of Thought Machine’s investors are also clients, including Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, SEB and others, signalling to the market Thought Machine’s critical role in the future of global banking technology.

Paul Taylor, Chief Executive Officer and Founder Thought Machine: “We are delighted to have earned the support of our new and existing investors as we continue to move the world’s leading banks into the cloud. We set out to eradicate legacy technology from the industry and ensure that all banks deployed on Vault can succeed and deliver on their ambitions. These new funds will accelerate the delivery of Vault into banks around the world who wish to implement their future vision of financial services.”