Banking-as-a-Service Platform Unit Raises $100 Million

Put another tally mark on FinTech “megadeal” board for 2022. This week, Unit announced that it had closed a $100 million round. The Series C was led by Insight Partners. Existing investors such as Accel, Better Tomorrow Ventures, and Flourish Ventures also participated along with newcomers Moving Capital and Stepstone. Notably, the round valued the company at $1.2 billion, earning it “unicorn” status. To date, Unit has now raised a total of $169.6 million following a $51 million Series B last year, a $15 million Series A in 2020, and a $3.6 million seed round in 2019.

Unit is a “banking-as-a-service” platform, allowing companies to integrate payments, lending, and other features into their offerings. These brands can also create virtual or physical cards for their customers According to their site, Unit is already used to power products from Lance, AngelList, Moves and others.

With the new capital, Unit intends to accelerate its product development and expand its offerings, including launching business credit cards within the next quarter. Following that, the company plans to roll out other credit products as well.

Commenting on Unit’s vision and future, the FinTech’s co-founder and CEO Itai Damti said in a statement, “Unit’s mission is to help companies launch new banking products that unlock value and expand financial access for all. We’ve seen tremendous success helping high-growth companies launch game-changing revenue streams and banking experiences in weeks. Credit is the clear next step of growth and we believe it will be the most important wave in financial services in the coming years.” Damti continued, “With this new round of funding, Unit will be able to empower the companies best suited to offer credit with the technology and infrastructure to make that a reality.”

Meanwhile, Insight Partners co-founder and managing director Jeff Horing said of the company, “Unit has established itself as the leader in the banking-as-a-service space, backed by the overwhelming positive customer feedback and traction they have shown over the last year,” adding, “We are bullish on the future of embedded finance and see Unit as the platform of choice for companies big and small.”

With this latest megaround, Unit places itself among a growing list of “behind the scenes” FinTechs with the potential to become huge. Seeing as the banking-as-a-service sector has only continued to gain popularity, there’s plenty of potential for the now-unicorn. Plus, as Unit notes, expanding into credit is a logical move that could very well carry the company even further. In all, there surely won’t be the last we hear of Unit.


Also published on Medium.

Author

Jonathan Dyer

I'm a small town guy living in Los Angeles looking to make solid financial decisions. I write for a number of finance websites, including HuffingtonPost and Business2Community. I founded DyerNews.com in 2015 to focus on personal finance and the emerging FinTech markets.

Other Articles by Jonathan Dyer

Nitra Latest FinTech to Join Visa's Fast Track Program

A spending insights platform built for healthcare professionals is getting a big boost by joining up with a major card company. This week, Nitra announced that it was the latest startup to join Visa's Fast Track program. As a result, the company will now have access to Visa's global payment network, VisaNet Nitra is a FinTech offering spending management tools for private practice physicians. With the platform, clients can issue...

Stripe Raises $6.5 Billion, Now Valued at $50 Billion 

FinTech giant Stripe has just closed a massive funding round, but is once again cutting its valuation. The online payments company has announced that it's just raised $6.5 billion. The Series I included participation from returning investors Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners, and Thrive Capital, while new investors GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek also joined. Goldman Sachs served as sole placement...

Chase Reveals Q2 2023 5% Bonus Categories for Freedom Cards

One of the biggest perks of the popular Chase Freedom Flex card (and its predecessor the Chase Freedom card) is the ability to earn 5% cashback on categories that rotate each quarter. Currently, these categories include grocery stores, fitness clubs and gym memberships, and purchases at Target. Now, with the first quarter of the year drawing to an end, Chase has revealed its Q2 2023 bonus categories. From April 1st...