Stockholm, 29 March 2023: The Swedish fintech company Open Payments has closed a 3 MEUR growth round.Industrifonden, Sweden's venture capital fund, led the round, with participation from Sony Financial Ventures - Global Brain’s venture capital fund, as well as existing investors. The capital will beused for business-, product development and expansion.

Open Payments is one of the leading Open Bankingplatforms in the Nordics with focus on business to business (b2b) transactions.The company´s platform enables online banking functionality to be shifted fromthe online bank to the customers’ business systems and interfaces, so that theend user e.g. can approve and make secure, direct payments without having tologin to their online bank. Open Payments platformconnects to commercial banks (via API technology) to enable services such aspayments, account reconciliation and cash management for embedding directly inclient applications like ERP systems, payment providers and fintechs.

“We see an increasing demand from leading accounting andERP systems and other financial systems that want to utilize Open Banking intheir products in a secure and reliable way,” says Louise Brandt, CEO andfounder of Open Payments. “Above all, they want to be able to provide variouspayments for their business customers, such as supplier payments and salary payouts.Open Payments has a cutting-edge expertise in this area and there are vastbusiness opportunities for both us and our customers. We see that b2b paymentsare part of the Open Banking space where we have a first mover advantage andcan take the lead internationally.”

Industrifonden was the lead investor in Open Payments latestround in 2020, and welcomes Sony Financial Ventures and Global Brain, as a co-investors.

“There are great opportunities with Open Banking sincecompanies don't need to be banks to provide secure banking functionality withintheir own systems,” says Anna Ljungdahl, Senior Investment Director atIndustrifonden. “What they do need though is a player like Open Payments whosetechnology lowers the entry barriers to these opportunities. We’re happy tokeep supporting the team and also welcoming global investors to Open Payment'slist of owners.”

Open Payments platform is developed based on theEuropean directive PSD2. This regulatory framework is forcing banks to makeaccount information and payment initiation services available to third parties,with the aim of opening up the market to players other than the banks to bringabout new and innovative solutions for financial services

“The Open Banking for the b2b market has beenneglected and the digitization that has taken place has instead been targeting consumers,”says Naoki Kamimaeda, partner at Global Brain. “We are impressed by how farOpen Payments has come in building and establishing the infrastructure requiredto make Open Banking a reality for businesses.”

Open Payment's customer base consists of accounting andERP systems providers and tech companies, who have integrated Open Payment'splatform in order to provide their own Open Banking solutions. What thecustomers have in common is that they have high demands for stability, securityand reliability for the millions of business-critical transactions that are beingprocessed. The company's platform has been extremely well-received so far, withseveral new collaborations underway and Open Payments is looking to expand intonew countries with both existing and new customers. In order to continue to beat the forefront of the Open Banking movement, Open Payments will continue to scalethe product and develop the platform further during this year.

“In Japan, Open Banking is in the early stages and weare inspired by how far Open Banking has come in Europe and the Nordics,” says JunjiNakamura, Director of Sony Financial Ventures. “We are impressed by OpenPayment's technology and how the company has enabled Open Banking for businesses.We made a strategic decision to invest in Open Payments to allow more markets toembrace the benefits of Open Banking faster.”

Open Payments CEO and founder LouiseBrandt has a background from Swedish fintech Zettle by Paypal (formerlyiZettle), where she held several senior positions. Together with a team withbackgrounds from Swedish fintech unicorns such as Zettle by Paypal, Klarna andTrustly, Open Payments has a unique and comprehensive competence of paymentflows and financial services. Open Payments is licensed as a Paymentinstitution - Payment services company by the Swedish Financial SupervisoryAuthority.

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Open Payments Europe

Open Payments Europe is a Swedish fintech company that,through its unique platform, offers a cutting-edge infrastructure required forOpen Banking to become a reality. Founded in 2017, and with offices inStockholm and Vasteras, Open Payments aims to become the new hub of theecosystem for Open Banking. Read more at https://openpayments.io

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Industrifonden

Industrifonden is Sweden’s Venture Capital Fund lookingfor unique, scalable innovation that has a meaningful impact on our society.Industrifonden manages more than SEK 5 billion and invest in early-stagecompanies, from seed to A-round funding with a reach across the Nordics. Theinvestment focus includes specialized technologies and businesses within DeepTech, Life Science and Transformative Tech. Industrifonden has an evergreen structurewhich allows a long-term focus on value creation. Read more at industrifonden.com 

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Global Brain

Global Brain Corporation (GB) is an early-stageventure capital firm based in Tokyo. It supports startups that tackle pressingproblems, create innovation, and contribute to the stimulation of the Japaneseeconomy and beyond. Its high-achieving, experienced professionals identifyexcellent startups through multiple global locations in Europe, US and APAC,and provide hands-on growth support. Global Brain is uniquely positioned in theventure scene, managing flagship funds alongside multiple corporate funds, withSony Financial Ventures being one of them. Global Brain’s total asset undermanagement is over US$1.5 billion, making it the largest domestic independentventure capital firm in Japan.

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Sony Financial Ventures

Sony Financial Ventures Inc.is a wholly owned investment subsidiary of Sony Financial Group Inc. Itlaunched its first venture capital fund, “SFV・GB L.P.”, in partnership with Global Brain Corporationin 2018. The fund is making strategic investments in innovative Fintechstartups across the world, that help leverageSony Financial Group’s wide range of expertise in the fields of financialservices such as insurance and banking. Sony Financial Ventures aims tocontribute to Sony Financial Group’s existing businesses and new businesscreation initiatives while also generating high financial returns from itsinvestments.

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