We have advised Yapily, the leading Open Banking infrastructure provider, on its $51 million Series B round financing. The first closing was announced on 21 July 2021 (second closing subject to regulatory approvals), taking its total investment to date to $69 million. This investment is led by Sapphire Ventures. Existing investors Lakestar, HV Capital and Latitude also participated in the round.
Yapily is an Open Banking infrastructure provider which allows companies to seamlessly access financial data and initiate payments, enabling better and fairer financial products for everyone. During the pandemic, Yapily has experienced 3.5x customer growth as it has seen a rapid and significant shift towards online shopping. Account-to-account payments have entered the mainstream, creating the perfect opportunity for open banking to become the go-to infrastructure underpinning digital payments globally.
Yapily will use this funding to expand into new markets, with the aim of covering 95% of Europe by the end of the year, while continuing to invest in markets where it has an established presence and a rapidly increasing customer base. In 2022, Yapily will spread to markets beyond Europe as open finance regulation is implemented globally and consumers begin to benefit from an open financial ecosystem.
Commenting on the deal, lead partner, Angus Miln said: "We work with the most ambitious, groundbreaking companies in the market and Yapily is a true trailblazer in the Open Banking space. We are excited to be supporting them in their mission to promote open finance globally and create a new generation of financial products accessible by everyone."
Stefano Vaccino, CEO and founder of Yapily, added: "This is a very exciting step for our business as we look to pursue our global growth plans. Angus and Elinor, and the wider Taylor Wessing team have been exceptional, providing insightful and commercially focused advice throughout this process. Taylor Wessing's reputation as the UK's leading technology law firm is well earned."
The team was led by corporate technology partner, Angus Miln, with support from senior associate, Elinor Picton, and associate, Joshua Gertner.
