UK-based Griffin, which offers a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, has raised $24 million (£19 million) in a new funding round and exited mobilisation to launch as a fully operational bank.
The funding round was led by MassMutual Ventures, NordicNinja and Breega, with participation from existing backers Notion Capital and EQT Ventures.
With the fresh capital infusion, Griffin aims to accelerate its growth, scale “responsibly as pilot customers go live” and enhance its infrastructure.
The bank said it also plans to take on new customers through its early access programme, Foundations. Through this, Griffin will work closely with the participants to help them enhance their offering by utilising embedded finance.
Griffin had entered a period of mobilisation after securing a banking licence with restrictions in March 2023. A year later, the bank has now received approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) to operate without restrictions.
The BaaS firm had followed this up with a $13.5 million (£11 million) Series A funding round in June 2023, which was also led by MassMutual Ventures.
“Griffin is exactly the sort of founder-led business that we look to back,” said Dan Shellard, partner at Breega.
“The hard work the team has done over the last several years in building their own core banking platform and securing a UK bank licence has them incredibly well positioned to power this generation of innovative financial products – and the next.”
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London, Griffin is the UK’s first full-stack BaaS platform with a banking licence and the company is led by banking and technology executives from Form3, Swift, Barclays, Virgin Money and Lloyds, among other firms.
