Upvest, a
Berlin-based provider of API-based investment infrastructure for banks and
fintechs, said today (Tuesday) it has raised $125 million in a new funding
round, with the deal valuing the company at €640 million, up from €360 million
when it last raised money in December 2024.
The round
consists of $90 million in equity, led by Sapphire Ventures and Tencent
Holdings, with participation from existing investors including BlackRock and
Bessemer Venture Partners. The company said it is also in the final stages of
securing a $35 million debt facility, which would bring the total financing to
$125 million.
Upvest Valuation Nearly
Doubles in 15 Months
The
valuation jump follows a period of rapid growth for Upvest, which said it
processed more than 100 million investment orders on behalf of clients in 2025.
The firm’s client roster now includes over 30 financial institutions, among
them DKB, Revolut, N26, and Santander’s Openbank, which switched to
Upvest’s API infrastructure for fractional stock and ETF trading in Germany
last year.
CEO Martin
Kassing told Bloomberg the company aims to reach more than €100 million in
annualized revenue and profitability within the next 24 months.
“Banks,
brokers, and wealth managers choose Upvest for the infrastructure needed to
grow their investment propositions profitably and at scale for a new generation
of investors,” Kassing added in the official press release.
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“The
$125m round, just 12 months after our Series C, underscores our momentum to be
the top choice for financial institutions launching and scaling best-in-class
investment experiences at lightspeed in Europe.”
Pension Products and AI
Drive Expansion Plans
Upvest said
it plans to use the new capital to roll out localized pension products,
including Germany’s Altersvorsorgedepot and the UK’s Self-Invested Personal
Pensions, which it says will allow financial institutions to bring pension
offerings to market in months rather than years. The firm is also building out
AI-supported investment tools, which it says will enable banks and developers
to offer hyper-personalized advisory services to retail customers.
The UK has
been a growing priority for the company. Upvest hired a
former Starling Bank executive last year to lead its push into the British
market, targeting
what it described as an underpenetrated retail investment opportunity.
More
recently, the firm added
2.5 million derivatives instruments through a partnership with Boerse Stuttgart in January, broadening the
product range available to its banking clients.
Banks Now the Primary
Growth Target
Kassing
signaled a shift in where he expects future revenue to come from. “We are
onboarding additional retail banks, wealth managers and private banks,” he
told Bloomberg. “The majority of our sales will come from banks and less
than a third from fintechs.”
That mix
has been shifting for some time. While Upvest built much of its early profile
through partnerships with neobanks, the company has been adding traditional
lenders and brokers to its client base. IG Group
signed on to use Upvest’s infrastructure to offer stock trading in France last
November, and UK digital
lender Zopa adopted Upvest’s platform to launch stocks and shares ISAs for its 1.6 million customers,
sitting alongside Revolut, which also runs on the same underlying
infrastructure.
Andreas
Weiskam, partner at Sapphire Ventures, said the firm sees Upvest’s growth as
tied directly to broader retail investing trends across the continent.
“With
retail investing accelerating across Europe, Upvest is expanding into new
assets, local tax wrappers, and AI-enabled capabilities, powering the next
generation of personalized investing,” he said.
Series D Follows Quick
Succession of Rounds
This latest
raise is Upvest’s second major funding event in roughly 15 months. The company
closed a €100 million Series C in December 2024, at the time citing plans to scale its
infrastructure across Europe.
The pace of
fundraising reflects a broader appetite among investors for B2B fintech
infrastructure plays in Europe, where retail investing penetration still lags
the United States.
Founded in
Berlin in 2017, Upvest now employs 280 people and holds regulatory status as a
securities institution in both Europe and the UK.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
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