ABN Amro’s Digital Impact Fund (DIF) is acquiring a minority stake in local fintech startup Ockto, which specialises in helping consumers and businesses to safely collect and share personal data.
The Ockto app collates user data from multiple Dutch government sites for taxation, benefits and pensions and makes it accessible to financial advisors, banks and other parties, for instance when applying for a mortgage or loan. The data is presented first in the app, where consumers can check it and submit to any third party via a secure online connection.
Robert Harreman, CEO and co-founder of Ockto, says: “Ockto is a platform through which we serve not only financial institutions, but also other sectors that rely heavily on consumer data, such as debt counselling, rented housing and municipalities. We see that consumers want to do things independently, but find it takes them a lot of time to collect their personal data from multiple institutions. Ockto performs this search for them. The implementation of GDPR and PSD2 will enable consumers to take control of their personal data more simply and securely. Ockto facilitates that.”
He says the new financing will be used to fund growth and seed expansion to other countries.
Ockto is the sixth startup to benefit from the Dutch bank's fintech venture fund. Other companies in the portfolio include solarisBank, Cloud Lending Solutions, BehavioSec, Tink, and a block chain initiative in trade & commodity finance.