British payment and identity services provider Yaspa, a hyper-growth FinTech startup, has received €10.1 million in a new funding round to fuel its expansion in the United States and disrupt the gambling payments ecosystem while adding native player protections.
The round was led by Discerning Capital, along with participation from Metavallon and TechStars Ventures.
CEO James Neville said: “This significant investment marks a major milestone for Yaspa. It enables us to take our proven technology into a new market at pace – hiring a local team, building strategic partnerships and adapting our platform to meet the specific needs of operators.
“We’re looking forward to supporting businesses that want to lead on compliance, player safety and user experience as the market matures.”
Founded in 2017 by former Worldpay CTO James Neville, Yaspa blends open banking and AI to provide Intelligent Payments: real-time bank payments (Pay by Bank) combined with verified customer insights, as well as a full suite of payment and account verification services.
Yaspa processes payments across a growing number of markets including Europe. It has also recently incorporated a US entity, based in Atlanta, Georgia.
David Williams, Partner at Discerning Capital, who will be joining the Yaspa board following the transaction said: “We are excited to be partnering with Yaspa to help them expand deeper into regulated gambling. The high-risk nature of gambling payments makes it an area in need of innovation and we believe Yaspa addresses two of the biggest issues: chargebacks and player protections. We believe that any operator who evaluates Yaspa’s A2A product versus their existing payments provider will end up adding Yaspa.”
While Yaspa is in hyper-growth mode in its existing markets, Discerning Capital believes that account-to-account (A2A) payments has global appeal for regulated gambling operators, given it is cheaper, reduces chargebacks and allows for seamless integration of player protections.
The United States’ open banking market is projected to witness a CAGR of 22.5% during the forecast period 2024-2031, growing from €6 billion in 2023 to €30.4 billion in 2031, according to a 2024 Markets and Data industry report.
Yaspa operates across the UK and Europe and is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.