Wise closes $12m Series A to accelerate embedded banking partnerships

By Edil Corneille

San Mateo-based Wise, an embedded banking FinTech that offers business banking via partnerships, announced the closure of its $12 million Series A round. The round was led by e.ventures, with participation from Grishin Robotics, and with continued investment from seed investors – Base10 Partners and Techstars.

Six months after a $5.7 million seed round, Wise raised the Series A funding to accelerate growth and partnerships across several verticals and to extend its technology to support a fully-managed embedded banking experience. The company has raised $18 million to date.

“We built banking so our partners don’t have to,” said Arjun Thyagarajan, Co-Founder and CEO at Wise. “By embedding banking, Wise unlocks deep product offerings and better customer experiences for our partners. e.ventures built a thesis on exactly this, and we agree 100%.”

“Business banking has been broken for far too long. Poor user interfaces, payments delays, unnecessary fees, a lack of integrations, the list goes on and on,” said Brendan Wales, Partner at e.ventures. “The team at Wise is bringing an Apple-like experience to the world of business banking with an embedded product that brings banking to where one’s business is managed.”

In addition to this round, the company has also signed several new partnerships, where B2B companies are able to seamlessly offer banking, within their product experience.

“In a world where more people are working remotely than ever before, it is important for RemoteTeam to provide its customers with a modern, instant payroll experience. Embedding banking solves a major pain point that makes RemoteTeam a standout offering in the payroll industry,” says Sahin Boydas, CEO at RemoteTeam and a Wise partner.

“Embedded experiences drive product engagement through the roof! It is a win-win-win proposition for everyone involved – Wise, its partner, and the small business that lives inside the partner ecosystem,” said Raghav Lal, President at Wise. Prior to joining Wise, Lal launched several co-branded partnerships at AMEX and VISA.

SaaS B2B companies can launch banking powered by Wise, with no-code and in a few days. The program is managed and serviced by Wise.

“We’re thrilled by Wise’s continued progress developing strategic partnerships with large SaaS partners,” added Rexhi Dollaku, Principal at Base10 Partners. “This funding will accelerate Wise’s product and go-to-market efforts, so that they can continue to redefine the business banking experience for many more real economy businesses.”