Financial technology start-up, Tink has recently announced to hit a valuation of USD 824 million which translates to 680 million euros after raising 85 million euros in latest funding round.
The latest financing round of the start-up was co-led by U.K-based VC firm, Dawn Capital and France-based private equity firm, Eurazeo.
So, what is Tink?
Tink is an open-banking platform that collects banking information and customer data from over 3400 European banks and financial institutions to get enriched with data through One API. The start-up was co-founded back in 2012 by Fredrik Hedberg and Daniel Kjellen with an aim to revolutions the European banking industry with open-banking as the base.
The company leverages financial data from banks and other financial institutions to develop powerful tools that allow established firms, banks and even start-ups to build better financial services and benefit the people of Europe.
The Sweden-based start-up has recorded a 60% increase in its valuation since the beginning of 2019 when it was worth 415 million euros. The fresh funding worth 85 million euros has been infused in the fintech start-up by multiple existing investors including PayPal Ventures, Dawn Capital, an Italian postal service provider- Poste Italiane S.p.A., Heartcore Capital, ABN AMRO Ventures and others.
Tink operates on an ‘open-banking’ platform which is said to increase transparency and competition in the financial sector of Europe, thereby creating a better banking experience for customers.
Tink capitalises on open banking by collecting data from over 3000 European banks and financial institutions and providing that data to app developers to build useful mobile applications for customers to do multiple banking operations hassle-free, such as checking their bank balance, transferring funds, receiving payments from different providers etc.
COVID-19, as unfortunate as it is, has opened doors for Open-banking providers such as Tink and the company has truly capitalised on the opportunity to excel and profit in the banking space. Furthermore, Tink has engaged in Mergers and Acquisitions for the first time this year and acquired U.K.-based OpenWrks, Spain-based Euro bits and Swedish Instantor intending to expand operations and business into relatively newer European territories, as reported by CNBC.
The basic groundwork for all Tink’s operations is the easement in banking regulations across Europe and the U.K. The banking rules in these regions allows banks to provide financial information to registered third-party companies, for them to make bank transfers on behalf of the bank and provide a better banking experience to the customers; needless to say, with their prior consent.
