Thought Machine

Thought Machine Reaches Unicorn Status with $200 Million Investment

Thought Machine Reaches Unicorn Status with $200 Million Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Thought Machine

In a round led by Nyca Partners, cloud native core banking technology platform Thought Machine has secured $200 million in new funding. The Series C investment gives the London-based fintech a valuation of more than $1 billion, giving the company so-called “unicorn status.”

Thought Machine will use the new capital to continue development and evolution of its flagship solution, Vault, and its Universal Product Engine. Vault leverages APIs and a microservice architecture to provide institutions with all of the functionality necessary to offer both retail and small business banking services. A system of smart contracts enables companies to configure Vault to support a variety of retail bank products including current and savings accounts, loans, credit cards, and mortgages. And as a cloud-based solution, Vault offers institutions security, flexibility, scalability, high availability, and an absence of friction.

Vault also enables institutions to better manage run and change costs so that banks only pay for the hardware they actually use and benefit from the ability to launch new products quickly and deploy upgrades to existing solutions with zero downtime.

“We set out to eradicate legacy technology from the industry and ensure that banks deployed on Vault can succeed and deliver on their ambitions,” Thought Machine founder and CEO Paul Taylor said. “These new funds will accelerate the delivery of Vault into banks around the world who wish to implement their future vision of financial services.”

Also participating in the Series C were new investors ING Ventures, JPMorgan Chase Strategic Investments, and Standard Chartered Ventures. Existing investors Lloyds Banking Group, British Patient Capital, Eurazeo, SEB, Molten Ventures, Backed, and IQ Capital also contributed. Thought Machine has raised more than $348 million in equity funding to date.

Thought Machine demonstrated its core banking solution, Vault, in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2018. More recently, in September of this year, the company announced that JP Morgan Chase would replace its core banking suite with Thought Machine’s Vault. Also joining Chase in transitioning to Vault this fall was Arvest Bank, which operates a cohort of small, U.S.-based community banks. In April, Thought Machine announced an integration with fellow Finovate alum Wise (formerly Transferwise) to enable companies using Vault to access low-cost international fund transfers.

Founded in 2014, Thought Machine was named “B2B Fintech of the Year” by AltFiNews earlier this month.

Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

JP Morgan Taps Thought Machine to Replace Retail Banking Core

JP Morgan Taps Thought Machine to Replace Retail Banking Core
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, JP Morgan Chase, Thought Machine

JP Morgan Chase announced this week it will replace its U.S. core banking suite with U.K.-based Thought Machine’s Vault.

Founded in 2014, Vault is a cloud native core banking engine that leverages smart contracts to help banks and fintechs build in the cloud and avoid the constraints of legacy technology. Vault provides a full range of retail and small business banking capabilities, including checking accounts, savings, loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

In the future, Thought Machine plans to build Commercial and Private Wealth offerings into Vault, as well.

JP Morgan, which was in the headlines yesterday for its purchase of college planning platform Frank, will benefit from Vault. The technology’s cloud-based nature will decrease the siloed structure that comes with most large, legacy banks. Instead, JP Morgan will operate as a universal banking platform where all products run on a single system.

“JPMorgan Chase represents one of the most ambitious, powerful financial institutions in the world—and our joint work signals to the finance industry that cloud native core banking technology is the future for financial services,” said Thought Machine CEO and founder Paul Taylor. “We are delighted to be working with JPMorgan Chase on this project, delivering modern core technology to the bank, and powering the next generation of financial services in North America.”

Thought Machine, which raised $125 million last year, is said to be working on another $205 million funding round. The company has seen significant growth over the past year and has scaled up its clients base to include Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, Atom bank, Monese, and SEB. Not only that, the company added 100 employees in the first half of 2020.

Photo by Sean Stratton on Unsplash

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Thought Machine Integrates with Wise

Thought Machine Integrates with Wise
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine, TransferWise, Wise

Cloud native core banking technology innovator Thought Machine has partnered with international payments company Wise (formerly Transferwise) in a deal that will enable banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions that are using ThoughtMachine’s core banking engine, Vault, to take advantage of the low-cost international fund transfer services provided by Wise.

“We have built a world-class financial technology partner ecosystem which our clients can tap into as they build a future-proof bank,” Thought Machine CEO Paul Taylor explained. “The firms we choose to partner with are those that have built meaningful, ultra-reliable products that ultimately improve the banking experience for customers. We look forward to working with Wise to bring its industry-leading payments solution to many more financial institutions, and customers, around the world.” 

To ensure cross-system interoperability, Thought Machine and Wise have built an integration layer that cuts down on the amount of development work needed to plug into Wise’s API by as much as 60%. The partnership is a response to the growing demand for faster, more affordable, and transparent multi-currency banking, and comes amid a broadening trend away from reliance on legacy core banking technology and traditional correspondent banking networks.

“Though the internet has transformed much of the economy, the global banking system has lagged behind and moving money internationally has remained slow, difficult, and expensive for most,” Wise Platform & Wise Business Managing Director Stuart Gregory said. “Our mission is to change this 一 a goal we share with Thought Machine. Our integration today makes it quicker and easier for financial institutions and banks to enable faster and cheaper payments for their customers and brings us one step closer to our mission of building money without borders.”

Wise is actually the second money transfer company that Thought Machine has teamed up with in the first half of 2021. In February, the company announced that it was working with TransferGo, who will use Thought Machine’s Vault to provide advanced platform capabilities that will enhance the customer experience. The company also recently forged partnerships with German software engineering company GFT to launch challenger bank BankLiteX, and with full-stack fintech solution provider Vacuumlabs, which leveraged ThoughtMachine’s Vault to power a virtual bank in Hong Kong. An alum of FinovateEurope, London-based Thought Machine has raised more than $148 million in funding.

A Finovate alum since 2013, Wise moves more than $6 billion every month, saving its 10 million customers $1.5 billion in hidden fees every year. Rebranding as Wise in February, the company unveiled its product roadmap earlier this month, highlighting new initiatives in customer experience, spending and cards, expansion, small business services, and security. The company offers a multi-currency account that enables individual users to take advantage of real exchange rates in more than 50 international currencies. Wise Business provides payment services including invoice payments, debit cards, P2P payments, and cash management to more than 400 businesses. The firm includes companies ranging from fellow Finovate alum Xero to challenger bank N26 among its customers.

Photo by Aphiwat Chuangchoem from Pexels

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Thought Machine to Power Credit Product for Curve

Thought Machine to Power Credit Product for Curve
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine

Cloud banking technology provider Thought Machine has been tapped by U.K.-based Curve to power its new buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering that allows customers to pay for purchases in installments.

The new product, Curve Credit, allows users to spread their payments over three, six, or nine month periods. Thanks to Thought Machine’s core platform and Curve’s Go Back in Time technology, credit can be applied both retrospectively and prospectively.

The retroactive payment functionality will rely on the smart contracts product-building system in Vault, Thought Machine’s cloud native core banking engine.

“Thought Machine is the only technology that allows us to deliver the flexibility and manageability we desired for our customers,” said Head of Curve Credit Paul Harrald. “Curve Credit’s ethos is about responsible lending and responsible borrowing. Alongside Curve OS, this three-way dynamic will be able to give each customer the clearest possible terms via a simple and beautiful product and experience.”

Founded in 2014, Thought Machine provides core banking technology for tier one banks, neobanks, and fintechs across the globe. The company counts Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, Atom bank, Monese, and SEB among its clients. Thought Machine’s funding total was boosted to more than $148 million in July of this year after the company closed a $42 million round.

Curve, which landed a partnership with Samsung Pay in August, enables users to consolidate all of their cards onto a single smart payment card. The company was founded in 2015 and has raised just over $74 million.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Thought Machine Locks in $42 Million in Funding

Thought Machine Locks in $42 Million in Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Thought Machine

Cloud banking technology provider Thought Machine has secured another $42 million in funding, boosting its Series B round to a total of $125 million after picking up an $83 million investment this spring. The new infusion of capital was led by Eurazeo Growth and featured participation from new investors British Patient Capital and SEB.

The investment will help the company to continue its international expansion – including the addition of new hires in the APAC region, the U.S., and in Australia. The company also plans to use the funding to fuel development of new products and functionalities, including a new payments solution.

“The prospect of transitioning to cloud native technology is now at the forefront of every major bank’s roadmap,” ThoughtMachine CEO Paul Taylor said. “Plans have been hastened in the wake of regulatory pressure, economic uncertainty, and the need to manage cost-income ratios.”

Thought Machine’s signature offering, Vault, is a modern, cloud-native core banking system designed for financial institutions burdened with legacy technology. Demonstrated at the company’s Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2018, Vault provides a secure, fast, and reliable end-to-end banking system that manages users, accounts, savings, loans, mortgages, smart contracts, and other financial products and services. By leveraging APIs and a microservice architecture, Vault is able to provide financial institutions with all the functionality necessary for bank operations. Currently geared toward retail and small business banking, the company plans to add both commercial banking and private wealth services “in the future.”

Named to the Tech Nation Future Fifty in March, and joining the Mastercard Start Path Programme in May, Thought Machine announced in June that its Vault platform was compatible with all major cloud infrastructure providers including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and IBM Cloud. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, Thought Machine includes Atom Bank and Lloyds Banking Group among its partners.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Thought Machine Locks in $83 Million in Growth Funding

Thought Machine Locks in $83 Million in Growth Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Thought Machine
Photo by Aphiwat chuangchoem from Pexels

U.K.-based, cloud native, core banking technology provider Thought Machine has just secured Series B funding that will help the U.K.-based company expand into the Asia-Pacific. The $83 million raised this week, courtesy of a round featuring all of the company’s existing investors, takes the firm’s total capital to more than $106 million.

Valued at $143 million at the time of its Series A round in 2014, Thought Machine is currently believed to be worth between $220 million and $320 million.

Thought Machine founder and CEO Paul Taylor said that the funding had arrived at a “pivotal stage” in the company’s development, citing both “healthy” revenues and “huge” customer demand. “As well as international expansion we will put further investment into our core technology,” Taylor said, “ensuring that banks will always have the best possible cloud native platform, and allow them to keep up with technology breakthroughs in the future which bring agility, security, resilience, and good economics.”

An alum of European fintech conference, the company demonstrated its core banking solution, Vault, at FinovateEurope 2018 . With this technology, Thought Machine enables both incumbent and challenger banks to operate and compete with a cloud-based offering of their own. Vault offers institutions checking and savings accounts, well as credit cards, loans, and mortgage financing.

Last fall Thought Machine announced a partnership with Standard Chartered’s new digital bank in Hong Kong, and unveiled a new collaboration with Swedish financial group, SEB. Both deals will feature deployment of Thought Machine’s Vault platform.

After expansion to Australia and Japan, Thought Machine plans to go live in the United States later this year.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Thought Machine Helps Standard Chartered Launch Digital Bank in Hong Kong

Thought Machine Helps Standard Chartered Launch Digital Bank in Hong Kong
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Thought Machine

Standard Chartered has selected Thought Machine to provide core banking capabilities for its new digital bank launching in Hong Kong, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The new venture, for which Standard Chartered received a virtual banking license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), will be unveiled later this year.

According to Deniz Güven, CEO of the as-yet unnamed bank, the selection of the right vendors was a crucial part of building out the bank’s capabilities.

He told FinTech Magazine that Thought Machine would be used as the bank’s “powerful product engine.”

The virtual bank is also using payments processor Paymentology, deploying Netsuite from Oracle and working with FICO to build out its credit business.

According to a May blog post from Güven, it has gone from a core team of ten people to more than 100 members of staff.

“We saw our chance to build a bank with a totally new operating model: new, cloud-based technology from the ground up,” wrote the CEO at the time, “a new way of onboarding clients, new anti-money laundering and fraud systems designed from the client’s viewpoint.”

Thought Machine demonstrated its core banking technology, Vault, at FinovateEurope 2018. Headquartered in London, U.K., and founded in 2014, Thought Machine has raised more than $23 million (£18 million) in funding, and includes Lloyds Banking Group and Backed VC among its investors.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Arkose Labs, Cinchy, Dwolla, inSpirAVE, iProov, Kinetica, nCino, OurCrowd, Ping Identity, Signicat, SplitIt, Thought Machine

On Finovate.com

  • Splitit Secures Partnerships with Shopify, Divido.
  • Thought Machine Helps Standard Chartered Launch Digital Bank in Hong Kong.
  • OurCrowd Teams Up with Toyota in Search for Tech Talent.
  • Saving for What Matters: A Q&A with INSPIRAVE Founder and CEO Om Kundu.

Around the web

  • FinovateFall Best of Show winner Cinchy earns $500,000 cash prize as one of the winners of the 2019 VentureClash competition.
  • Signicat unveils new capabilities, including a new technical interface and new third party integrations, that extend the reach of its digital identity verification technology.
  • Arkose Labs VP of Marketing and Strategy Vanita Pandey and Senior Producer Hedda Peters win Women in Cybersecurity honors at the Cyber Defense Global Awards sponsored by Cyber Defense Magazine.
  • nCino partners with Seacoast Bank ($8.6 billion in assets).
  • iProov earns a finalist spot in the 2019 Go:Tech Awards.
  • Compliance and risk management firm Middesk brings its business verification tool to the Dwolla Partner Ecosystem.
  • Kinetica opens office in Melbourne, Australia.
  • Ping Identity adds to its North European operations with a new office in Utrecht, Netherlands.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Thought Machine Teams Up with Sweden’s SEB

Thought Machine Teams Up with Sweden’s SEB
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Thought Machine

SEB, the Swedish financial group, has partnered with core banking firm Thought Machine in a project which will see the former deploy a new banking platform in its innovation studio, SEBx, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

SEBx is implementing Vault, Thought Machine’s flagship cloud-hosted core banking system.

According to Nicholas Moch, group CIO of SEB, the innovation studio has a “clear mandate for exploring tech to create next generation customer offerings.”

“Having the opportunity to build a bank from the ground up within SEBx, we are determined to work with partners that bring new perspectives to a traditional industry, and the team at Thought Machine does that,” Moch said.

SEB launched its innovation studio in July, and describes it as an initiative for testing new technologies, alternative technology platforms and new services. The studio currently employs 16 people.

The bank’s CEO, Johan Torgeby, told Swedish media at the time that SEBx could become a separate company in the future.

Paul Taylor, CEO and founder of Thought Machine, said of the project: “SEB is one of the most innovative banks in Europe, and it is significant that they have decided to deploy Vault as part of their technology exploration.”

SEB’s activities mainly comprise retail and corporate banking, but it also dabbles in life insurance and pensions. Founded in 1972, it operates subsidiaries in Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia.

Thought Machine demonstrated its core banking solution, Vault, at FinovateEurope 2018. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, U.K., the company has raised $22 million (£18 million) in funding from investors including Lloyds Banking Group, Backed VC, and IQ Capital.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Backbase, Darwinex, SWITCH, Thought Machine, TransferWise, Zopa

On Finovate.com 

  • Backbase Powers OmniChannel Digital Services for BGŻ BNP Paribas Bank.
  • Switch Granted $2 Million in Funding.

Around the web

  • IBM partners with Thought Machine for legacy systems.
  • TransferWise introduces its borderless account – with a debit card – to Ireland.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: AlphaPoint, EVRY, iSignthis, Klarna, Lendio, Shoeboxed, Thought Machine, Xsolla

On Finovate.com

  • EVRY Lands 7-Year Deal Worth $77 Million.

Around the web

  • Shoeboxed has processed 28+ million documents and receives upwards of 200,000 documents per month from customers through Magic Envelope since launching it in 2007
  • Entrepreneur features how Xsolla helps Fortnite game developers get paid.
  • Lendio recognized as a great place to work for third consecutive year.
  • AlphaPoint, facilitates issuance of digital pound sterling for London Block Exchange, a multi-cryptocurrency exchange.
  • Klarna enters global opportunity with Clas Ohlson partnership.
  • iSignthis receives Visa/Mastercard license.
  • Atom Bank partners with Thought Machine.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Thought Machine Announces Strategic Partnership with Lloyds Banking Group

Thought Machine Announces Strategic Partnership with Lloyds Banking Group
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Thought Machine

Lloyds Banking Group has taken a 10% stake in core banking technology provider Thought Machine. The investment of $14.4 million (£11 million) represents the lion’s share of the company’s $23.6 million Series A round (£18 million) and is part of a strategic partnership that will help Lloyds reach its digital transformation goals.

Lloyds will leverage Thought Machine’s Vault solution, a cloud-based, next generation core banking platform to provide its customers with more personalized solutions, as well as accelerating the development cycles for additional digital banking additions. Lloyds noted in a press release that not only has it “completed extensive testing and proofs of concept” with Thought Machine, but also that the firm plans to continue helping develop Vault’s capabilities.

Thought Machine CEO and founder Paul Taylor and Chief of Sales & Marketing Travers Clarke-Walker demonstrating Vault at FinovateEurope 2018.

“A key part of our recently launched three-year strategic plan is applying technology innovation to meet our customers’ evolving needs,” Lloyds Group Director for Transformation Zak Mian explained. “I’m really excited to work with the Thought Machine team to explore ways to simplify and enhance our IT architecture and (help) on our journey to make banking easy and simple for customers.”

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, U.K., Thought Machine demonstrated Vault at FinovateEurope earlier this year. The flexible, end-to-end, cloud-based platform comes with a full suite of banking solutions including current accounts, loans, savings, mortgages, and credit cards – all delivered via Vault’s system of smart contracts. Driven by what Thought Machine founder and CEO Paul Taylor called a reaction to “the horror of the legacy IT systems” used by banks, Thought Machine and its team of 60 are dedicated to helping banks provide their customers with the “quality and richness of service they deserve.”

“We are delighted to announce this partnership with Lloyds,” Taylor said. “Lloyds has shown a deep commitment to embrace the opportunities that new technologies can bring in improving customers’ banking experience and it is a pleasure to take this partnership forward.”

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook