Yaspa raises USD $12 million for US expansion & Atlanta launch
Yaspa has secured a USD $12 million investment led by Discerning Capital to advance its expansion into the United States.
The London-based fintech has also confirmed the establishment of a United States entity based in Atlanta, Georgia. Yaspa provides instant payment and identity services utilising open banking technology and artificial intelligence, aiming to boost customer analytics and cash flow for regulated businesses through its proprietary Intelligent Payments platform.
Funding details
The latest funding round involved participation from Metavallon and TechStars Ventures, and was led by Discerning Capital, which is investing USD $12 million (GBP £9 million). Discerning Capital states it is backing Yaspa due to its belief in the company's payments process and its potential impact on the gambling payments sector. The investment is intended to help Yaspa scale its operations across the US, where open banking technology is growing in prominence.
The open banking market in the US is projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.5% from 2024 to 2031, according to figures from a 2024 Markets and Data industry report. Market value is forecast to rise from USD $7.08 billion in 2023 to USD $35.79 billion in 2031.
Market expansion
Yaspa, which already processes payments across several European markets, said it would use the fresh capital injection to expand its US team, form new strategic alliances, and refine its platform to meet the needs of American operators.
Yaspa CEO and Co-founder James Neville, who founded the company in 2017 after a tenure as Chief Technology Officer at Worldpay, highlighted the strategic benefits enabled by the new investment:
"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."
Investor perspective
Discerning Capital focuses on businesses operating at the junction of online gambling, sports, media, and technology, with a preference for firms requiring additional scale capital. The firm's rationale for investing in Yaspa is based not only on the company's results in existing markets, but also on what it sees as the potential for account-to-account (A2A) payments in regulated gambling globally. A2A payments are considered attractive to operators for their cost savings, reduction of chargebacks, and smoother integration of player protection mechanisms.
David Williams, Partner at Discerning Capital, is set to join Yaspa's board following the transaction. Williams 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."
Company background
Founded in 2017 by James Neville, Yaspa uses a blend of open banking and AI to offer Intelligent Payments, comprising real-time bank payments (Pay by Bank) and customer verification services. Yaspa operates in the UK and Europe and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The investment marks a further step in Yaspa's growth in the United States, where the company aims to address compliance, user experience, and safety requirements in rapidly evolving and regulated sectors such as gambling. Yaspa's Atlanta office will focus on localised development and partnership-building activities as the company introduces its payment and identity services to new American clients.
