Extend Grabs $40M for Development, Expansion
FinTech startup Extend has raised $40 million in a Series B round, the company announced Wednesday (Oct. 27).
March Capital led the latest fundraising round for New York-based Extend, which was also backed by B Capital, Point72 Ventures, Fintech Collective, Reciprocal Ventures, Wells Fargo and Pacific Western Bank.
Extend plans to use the fresh round of capital to further develop its platform and expand its suite of offerings, including stepping into the consumer market after focusing primarily on the corporate space.
The company has integrated directly with major networks and processors — including Global Payments/TSYS, Mastercard, and Visa — to build a platform that supports product development so card issuers can tie Extend’s solutions into its available product offerings.
American Express, for example, is offering Extend’s virtual card platform to its business card members, at no additional cost.
Extend also offers a virtual card platform-as-service that they tout as an issuer-agnostic solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company also has several API solutions for banks and third-party service providers.
“As industry veterans, we saw first-hand how issuers were struggling to overcome the complexity of banking infrastructure,” Extend CEO and Co-founder Andrew Jamison said in the company announcement.
“With competition proving concepts for payment innovation and showing us the path forward, it was clear that banks standing on legacy systems would be left behind if unable to meet new customer expectations. The upside is that customers don’t want to leave their banks and that’s where we come in,” he said.
Extend has “been able to deliver solutions that are universally accessible,” said Jamison.
“But what excites me most is the creativity that such accessibility breeds,” he said. “Not only are we helping banks reach the new status quo, we are seeing innovators develop their own solutions with the flexibility of our platform.”
Related: Amex Lets Business Customers Create Virtual Cards with Extend
Last month, American Express announced it is working with virtual card FinTech Extend to let American Express Business Card members enroll and create virtual cards, also called tokens using Extend’s app or desktop login.
Benefits of the Extend card include quick enrollment, flexibility — businesses can create their own cards and send virtual cards to employees, contractors and vendors — and spending control, along with streamlined expense reporting and additional security measures.