Synctera, a startup that helps connect community banks and emerging fintechs, has raised $33 million in a Series A funding round led by Fin VC and joined by Mastercard.
Gaingels, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Diagram Ventures, SciFi Ventures, and Scribble Ventures joined the round, as did angels including Omri Dahan (CRO, Marqeta), Nuno Sebastiao (CEO, Feedzai), Tim Sheehan ( CEO, Greenlight).
Synctera is the brainchild of CEO Peter Hazlehurst, former head of Uber Money, head of Google Wallet and CPO at Yodlee, and his co-founders CTO Kris Hansen and head of product, Dominik Weisserth.
The startup says that smaller banks and credit unions have often been reluctant or unable to form potential partnerships due to a lack of technical or operational resources. Working with fintechs raises regulatory compliance questions and brings operational overheads and complexity.
It is promising to make the process simpler, offering a partnership banking marketplace connecting community banks with fintech platforms, reducing risk, ensuring compliance and speeding up launches to market.
Alongside the Series A, Synctera is also announcing its commitment to the Cap Table Coalition alongside other high-growth startups by allocating 10% of all funding rounds to traditionally marginalized investors.
Says Hazelhurst: "Since launch, Synctera has formed one of the best teams in the industry. Bringing on a group of investors with deep industry expertise will help us meet rapidly increasing demand in our next stage of growth.
"For this next chapter—and to put action behind Synctera’s values—we pledge to reserve 10% of this round and all future rounds to diverse investors, allowing for more representation and collaboration to further innovate the industry."