The Swedes are an innovative people and have often been ahead of the game when it comes to fintech. Now the new fintech startup Atlar, founded by three former Tink employees, Joel Nordström, Joel Wägmark and Johannes Elgh, is launching. With Atlar, companies can communicate directly with banks via a novel layer to seamlessly and automatically initiate and reconcile payments.
Now the Swedish fintech has raised a €5 million seed round from big-name investors. In addition to Index Ventures, La Famiglia VC, Cocoa and various business angels participated in the round, including Revolut CFO Mikko Salovaara, former EVP of Global Sales at Adyen Thijn Lamers and N26 CFO Jan Kemper.
Atlar offers solutions for outgoing payments
It is estimated that around 260 trillion euros are moved through European banks in the form of payouts, insurance premiums, deposits and loan disbursements. However, much of this is still done manually: through spreadsheets uploaded to banks, direct debits that need to be reconciled with invoices, or homegrown software solutions developed makeshift by finance and IT teams.
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While there are already many innovative, digital solutions in the “open banking” space for companies to accept payments, similar solutions for outgoing payments do not yet exist. With Atlar, companies can log into a platform via an API, which in turn is connected to banks. Companies can thus automate their payment activities.
First customers already in Germany
“Accepting payments as a business is pretty painless. But initiating them at your bank is still torturous and manual,” says Joel Nordström. “That’s why Atlar is on its way to becoming the operating system for bank-based payments.” Currently, the Stockholm-based company employs ten people.
Now the Swedish fintech is gaining a direct foothold in Germany. It has directly snagged prominent clients, including companies in areas such as insurance, lending and marketplaces. Banxware, a pioneer in embedded finance in Germany, is already one of Atlar’s customers.
