Griffin, a Banking as a Service (BaaS) FinTech firm, announces it has raised $15.5 million in funding to launch the OS for embedded finance. Notion Capital led the round, with participation from existing investor EQT Ventures as well as FinTech angels, including William Hockey, co-founder of Plaid and founder and co-CEO of Column, Nilan Peiris, VP of Growth at Wise, Rob Straathof, CEO at Liberis and Shane Happach, CEO of Mollie and ex CCO Worldpay.

Griffin also welcomes Notion Capital co-founder and managing partner Stephen Chandler to its board of directors. Chandler’s previous investments include FinTech unicorns GoCardless and Paddle, and he brings a wealth of industry knowledge and operating experience in banking and software to Griffin. 

“We’re thrilled to be working with Notion Capital and to have someone of Stephen’s calibre join our board. His experience fits perfectly with our vision to blend the worlds of banking and technology into one powerful platform,”

“With this injection of funding, we can continue to innovate, scale our business, and focus on building the best banking platform possible.”

                                                                          David Jarvis, Griffin CEO and Co-Founder.

Griffin is building a full-stack vertically integrated BaaS platform powered by modern, user-friendly technology. The company has raised $27 million of funding and recently submitted its application to the PRA and the FCA to become an authorized bank. The notion and other investors recognize this as a key market differentiator for the company. Becoming a bank would enable Griffin to offer banking services and a more comprehensive BaaS platform than middleware competitors. Griffin’s vision is to be a stable, long-term banking partner for innovative FinTechs who often struggle with long, expensive onboarding processes and integration with legacy tech at established banks.

“SaaS is finally eating the financial services sector the way it has every other industry, and Griffin will empower FinTechs to build and launch financial products with a single secure and modern SaaS platform,”

“I’m thrilled to support the team as they rewrite the way companies interact with banks and accelerate growth.”

                                                     Stephen Chandler, Managing Partner at Notion Capital.

The notion and other investors also backed Griffin based on the calibre of its leadership. David Jarvis and Allen Rohner, founder and former CTO of tech unicorn CircleCI, founded the company in 2017 and have since assembled a formidable team of tech and banking leaders from the Bank of England – PRA, Visa, HSBC, Form3, SWIFT, Monzo, GoCardless, Atlassian, Snyk, and more.

Since its last funding announcement in November 2020, Griffin has tripled in size and begun commercializing its platform, currently available for exclusive early access. This new round of investment will be used to grow the leadership and operational teams and continue the build of the core banking platform. Griffin is also committed to protecting its company culture as it scales. The company’s culture is based on trust, kindness, and transparency and underpins its goal of becoming the bank for builders and innovators.

“The financial services industry has not kept pace with consumer trends and tech innovation, creating demand for a developer-friendly bank built on modern APIs and intuitive software,”

“Griffin aims to challenge the status quo by offering a full-stack banking platform that will make it fast, simple, and cost-effective for brands to launch financial products. This influx of capital will drive the next phase of the company’s ambitious journey.”

                                     Tom Mendoza, EQT Ventures partner, and Griffin board member.