New Fintech Deals for Thought Machine, WealthKernel and TrueLayer

A healthy mix of cloud-native core banking, investment APIs and account-to-account payments.

There are three separate fintech deals for London-based companies Thought Machine, WealthKernel and TrueLayer this week.

Finance app M1 has selected Thought Machine’s cloud-native core banking engine, Vault Core, to build and launch new products.

Female-first investment platform Alpher will use WealthKernel’s investment APIs as it gears up for its UK launch.

Digital bank Zopa has gone live with TrueLayer’s account-to-account payments for its Smart Saver savings account.

Thought Machine Takes M1 Route

Get your motor runnin’, head out on the highway, looking for adventure, whatever comes our way. Well, it is the M1.

According to Thought Machine, Chicago-based M1 helps individuals invest, borrow and spend within one app – with automation and personalised features. Last year, M1 completed a Series E funding round that valued the business at $1.45 billion (£1.16 billion).

M1 will migrate existing banking products and accounts onto Vault Core.

Brian Barnes, CEO of M1, notes: “Vault Core is unlike any other banking platform: its microservices-based architecture and smart contracts capabilities each enable the configuration and launch of highly complex products all from a single, real-time platform.”

Thought Machine is enjoying a lot of great adventures of late. Earlier this month it closed its Series D funding round, to double its valuation to $2.7 billion (£2.2 billion).

Clients of Thought Machine include Intesa Sanpaolo, Lloyds, ING, SEB, Standard Chartered, mortgage & loan provider Together in the UK, HD Bank in Vietnam, Magyar Bankholding in Hungary, Mascoma Bank in the US, Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia and Danish company Lunar.

WealthKernel in Alpher-ville

As part of the partnership, WealthKernel will provide London-based Alpher with its core investing infrastructure, including brokerage and custodian services, fractional stocks and ETFs, portfolio management functionality, and access to UK tax account wrappers like ISAs and GIAs (general investment accounts).

Alpher has no time for alpha males and will focus on its mission to “support women with better investment services, while addressing the growing £15 billion gender investment gap”.

Founded by CEO Mini Maxwell and CTO Oli Bates, Alpher is keen on change.

Maxwell says: “Retail investing is more popular and accessible than ever before, yet the majority of women remain on the investment sidelines. At Alpher, we are building a product that puts women at the core – building what we know women want, rather than what people assume they want.”

In January, WealthKernel revealed its Series A+ funding round, securing a further investment of $7 million (£5 million).

TrueLayer Looking Smart

Zopa’s Smart Saver was launched in February for consumers. The account has attracted 20,000 customers and more than £110 million in deposits.

Open banking platform TrueLayer says it is supporting London-headquartered Zopa with account-to-account payments that remove the need to enter any card or bank account details. Instead, customers select the ‘Instant bank transfer’ option at the top of the payment screen and authenticate their identity with biometrics to confirm the payment.

Merve Ferrero, Chief Strategy Officer at Zopa, comments: “Over the next 12 months we plan on doubling our savings portfolio to £2 billion.”

TrueLayer is a busy fintech company.

This month, The Credit Thing implemented a recurring payments API from TrueLayer and made the first consumer variable recurring payments (VRP) transactions in the UK.

Other deals for TrueLayer include B2B payments solutions provider Monoova in Australia, Lemonade Finance, MogoPlus, Douugh, ETX Capital in London and investment platform Tillit.

Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton
Antony Peyton is the Editor of eWeek UK. He has 18 years' journalism and writing experience. His career has taken him to China, Japan and the UK - covering tech, fintech and business. Follow on Twitter @TonyFintech.
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