JP Morgan invests in Shoreditch fintech firm AccessFintech
Banking giant JP Morgan has kicked off the series A funding round for a London-based fintech firm aiming to combine financial companies different trading technology providers into a single dashboard.
AccessFintech is currently in talks with other financial institutions, as well as venture capital firms to complete the funding round.
The firms did not disclose the size of the equity stake taken by JP Morgan. AccessFintech founder and chief executive Roy Saadon told City A.M. it was around the average size for similar deals; the mean size of series A fundraising rounds in Europe in 2016 was around £5m, according to Dealbook.
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AccessFintech aims to provide a single portal to link in-house tech and third-party technologies to try to combat the inefficiencies presented by having multiple providers and make firms risk management easier.
Saadon said the investment in the Shoreditch-based firm was “a vote of confidence in the space were in, but also for London” as a fintech investment destination.
The investment will be used to expand operations and increase spending on research and development. It will also join JP Morgans fintech accelerator programme, In-Residence, as part of the deal. It will work with JP Morgan to test its products.
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The firm also has a “sandbox” product which aims to allow banks to try new providers at a much reduced cost, plugging straight into their centralised platform.
The firms founders, Saadon and Steve Fazio, are veterans of Traiana, a firm which was purchased by brokerage Icap in 2007 for $247m (£178m). That experience showed them how tricky it was for disruptive firms to break through, Saadon said.
“One of the things we saw is how hard it is for a great idea to get into a bank,” Saadon said. “We think the best way for disruptive tech to get adopted is to work with the banks.”
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