Modulr Raises $108M for Embedded Payments Expansion

Embedded payments platform Modulr has raised $108 million in a Series C round led by equity firm General Atlantic, the company announced in a Wednesday (May 18) press release.

The London-based company plans to use the funds to expand its geographic footprint and extend its client and partner coverage with the goal of becoming, as founder and CEO Myles Stephenson said in the announcement, a “pan-European payments champion.”

Read more: Ripple, Modulr, Partner on Easier Payments

Modulr’s technology lets businesses build payments into their platforms without needing to build and manage their own payment systems.

The company says its Payments-as-a-Service offering lets clients access crucial payment infrastructures, such as Faster Payments and Bacs CHAPS, SWIFT and SEPA. Modulr is also the rare non-bank directly connected to the Bank of England, allowing it to settle funds at the U.K.’s central bank.

Its clients include more than 200 companies, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and their millions of customers.

In addition to General Atlantic, other investors in the Series C round included returning backers Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, Highland Europe and PayPal Ventures.

As PYMNTS noted in a recent report, embedded finance lets businesses provide sophisticated payment and banking services straight to customers and suppliers, letting them shed many of the historic frictions connected B2B payments, particularly as these transactions are typically made in real time.

See also: Data: B2B Firms Eye Embedded Finance Payment Options

Embedded finance experiences, which allow payments to be integrated into previously nonfinancial processes or platforms, have become more popular on the consumer side, with nearly 25% of consumers in one study saying they use buy now, pay later (BNPL).

Data from PYMNTS ConnectedEconomy research also shows a rise in the popularity of online and mobile banking, with 35% of people surveyed reporting that they made transactions online using their financial institutions (FIs) mobile apps at least once per week.

Meanwhile, more than 70% of European brands reported they were exploring the launch of embedded finance features in the next two years. Industry analysts project these tools will soon be more or less ubiquitous, making them vital for businesses that want to compete.