Banyan, a platform for product buy knowledge that enables prospects akin to banks, fintechs, resorts and retailers to automate expense administration and extra, as we speak introduced that it raised $43 million in a Sequence A funding spherical — $28 million in fairness and $15 million in debt — led by Fin Capital with participation from M13, FIS Influence Ventures and TTV Capital. A supply accustomed to the matter tells Fintech that the valuation is within the “mid-$100 million” vary.
CEO Jehan Luth says that the brand new capital might be put towards product analysis and growth and infrastructure development, in addition to towards increasing Banyan’s headcount from 46 staff to 50 by the tip of the 12 months. “This funding spherical positions Banyan effectively with ample runway to develop,” he advised Fintech in an e mail interview, noting that it brings the corporate’s complete raised to $53 million.
Banyan maintains a database of “SKU-level” knowledge and a platform that leverages the database to allow corporations to make use of buy knowledge in varied methods (e.g., fraud prevention, loyalty applications and card-linked presents). For instance, Banyan can combine item-level buy knowledge into enterprise banking or expense administration apps, eradicating the necessity to set up receipts and expense reviews. Elsewhere, the platform organizes, classifies and standardizes receipt knowledge to allow retailers and their companions to focus on presents to particular gadgets, classes and aisle-level subcategories they need to reward (assume advert campaigns like “purchase grilling tools at grocer X and get 20% money again”).
Luth — who holds an affiliate’s diploma in pc science from the College of Cambridge, a bachelor’s diploma in meals science from the Culinary Institute of America, and grasp’s levels in epidemiology and regulation from the College of Pennsylvania — based Banyan in 2019 after serving as know-how director of Harvard’s T.H. Chan College of Public Well being. He claims one of many firm’s main differentiators is that its community obtains knowledge immediately from first-party sources, akin to retailers, and doesn’t gather private data — addresses, telephone numbers, e mail addresses and the like — “until completely obligatory” to ship a service.
“Retailers are a key collaborator in our community, offering safe buy receipt knowledge in order that there isn’t a want for display scraping or problematic receipt snapshots with a cell phone,” Luth mentioned. “We’re organizing and standardizing item-level knowledge throughout all retailers in order that it may be correct and constant when built-in into banking establishment buyer platforms.”
Banyan claims to have processed billions of transactions and receipts from the over 35,000 service provider companions in its community. Luth, who declined to disclose the scale of the corporate’s buyer base, says it’s made up largely of banks and fintechs (he wouldn’t identify names).
“In an surroundings the place many shoppers are tightening their belts and rethinking model loyalty, item-level knowledge is usually a key for retailers to supply actual financial savings leveraging strategic ‘aisle’ budgets, whereas additionally managing stock ranges and effectively driving gross sales retention,” Luth mentioned, demurring when requested about Banyan’s income numbers. “Our investments will allow monetary establishments to extend buyer engagement by delivering customized digital experiences, and allow retailers to streamline the acquisition expertise and create new sources of gross sales income together with bettering their capability to handle inventories.”