Brankas has announced the completion of a US$20 million Series B investment round headed by Insignia Ventures Partners, with previous investors Beenext and Integra Partners also participating. Brankas plans to use this round of funding to extend its network of over 40 financial institutions and 100+ technology businesses, expand its product line of banking-as-a-service APIs servicing consumers in six Asian regions, and double its current 100-person staff.
Brankas’ mission to deliver Asia’s most reliable and comprehensive finance API platform is being accelerated by this current financing. To power the next generation of fintech solutions, the company has been democratizing access to financial and identity data, payments initiation, and other developer tools since 2016. Brankas has partnered with non-bank providers such as remittance businesses and e-wallets to deliver Open Finance solutions to previously unbanked consumer segments. Brankas focuses on helping any company in Southeast Asia that requires financial data and embedded fintech services to empower their end users: technology companies, traditional brick-and-mortar leaders with online channels, and even financial institutions looking to offer a financial marketplace or embedded finance experience to their customers.
Brankas is well-equipped and well-positioned to do this, according to Samir Chaibi, Principal, Insignia Ventures Partners, as the open finance trend advances in Southeast Asia. “The Open Finance industry is powering the next generation of fintech services and Brankas is at the forefront of this movement in Southeast Asia. We are thrilled to partner with a team with a world-class API-driven infrastructure built across key Southeast Asian markets to serve the largest fintech players as they scale. We have also been impressed by Brankas’s approach to market development and their ability to launch and scale their products in a regulatory compliant manner while ensuring that developers benefit from a reliable and stable source of banking and financial data and beyond.”
Visa also took part in the round, demonstrating the payment processing network’s commitment to Southeast Asia’s rapidly growing Open Finance ecosystem. Along with current Brankas investors Beenext and Integra Partners, AFG Partners and Treasury International (supported by experienced fintech innovators Jeff Cruttenden of Acorns and Eli Broverman of Betterment) have joined the round. Brankas was chosen as one of five participants in Visa’s 2021 Accelerator Program, and the two companies collaborated on a digital credit card issuing proposal that used Visa’s data capabilities. In September 2021, the solution was demonstrated at the Visa Accelerator Demo Day.
Leading the way for Southeast Asia’s Open Finance Development
Brankas’ network of financial institutions and tech businesses utilize its embedded finance APIs to design, roll out, and manage digital experiences for Southeast Asia across a variety of use cases, including digital banking, online credit scoring, e-commerce, and gig economy payments.
Brankas’ API platform allows financial institutions to unlock digital capabilities and new revenue streams such as online payments, identity verification, and account opening, as well as expand their reach, particularly to users who have historically been difficult to serve with traditional financial services. Brankas serves as a link between fintech companies and crucial data requirements for verification or scoring procedures that would otherwise take significantly longer to develop and optimize for users. These use cases aren’t limited to financial services; e-commerce businesses, for example, use APIs to verify and secure payments on their platforms. Brankas provides a compliant, reliable, and secure system at scale to reduce the local complexities of building and operating fintech products and services across industries and use cases.
Todd Schweitzer, CEO, Brankas, highlights the enormous potential of Open Finance, particularly in Southeast Asia, “Open Finance is about more than just payments or banking. Our work at Brankas building Southeast Asia’s next-generation financial services infrastructure has unlocked opportunities for new financial product development, in a region that has historically been dominated by large brick-and-mortar incumbents. Thanks to our growing network of partners and customers we are continuously deepening our understanding of these opportunities and leading the development of solutions to open these doors for them here in Southeast Asia.”
Brankas has constantly led the way in establishing Southeast Asia’s open financial ecosystem as the company has developed to cater to more use cases and involve more partners and customers in its network. Brankas is the first bank in the region to offer banking-as-a-service APIs for account opening and credit card issuing, for example.
Brankas has also earned the respect of authorities as a pioneer and leader in open finance. Brankas received a prestigious grant from Singapore’s Central Bank in October 2021 to create an open-source core banking system. The firm also took part in the Philippines’ Open Finance pilot as the first licensed financial API service provider.
Bringing Unprecedented Choice and Access to Southeast Asia
Brankas is expanding its payment, data, and banking-as-a-service API product range in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand as a result of its Series B financing. In early 2022, the business plans to announce partnerships with leading digital banks and fintech leaders in Vietnam and Bangladesh.
Brankas has over 100 staff in 17 countries after operating as a distributed, remote-first business since its inception. Simo Figuigui, Head of Business Development and Growth, and Arvin Razon, Head of Regulatory, Legal, and Compliance Affairs, are two of the company’s recent senior hires.
With new investors, partnerships, and hires, Todd shares his outlook for Brankas: “At Brankas, our vision is to make modern financial services available to everyone. 2021 has been a breakout year for Brankas, enabling financial institutions and companies to partner in new ways and offering unprecedented choice and access for Southeast Asia consumers. All this has happened as we see open finance adoption gaining traction greater than ever before in the region. As a leader in this movement, we are primed to pioneer new products and use cases for Southeast Asia’s next generation of financial services, and we’ll need as many hands on deck to follow through on this. This means continuously growing our network, building out our team’s capabilities, and working closely with our new investors. We are proud to join the Insignia portfolio, and we welcome Visa as a new investor and strategic commercial partner. Thanks also to Treasury International, AFG, and our existing investors Beenext, Integra, and Plug and Play for their continued support and mentorship.”
