Former Tink staff launch Atlar, a cost automation startup • TechCrunch

Stockholm-based startup Atlar raised a $5 million (€5 million) seed spherical led by Index Ventures. The corporate has been engaged on an software programming interface (API) that facilitates bank-to-bank funds for European companies.

In addtion to Index Ventures, La Famiglia VC, Cocoa and varied enterprise angels additionally participated within the spherical, akin to Revolut CFO Mikko Salovaara, former EVP of world gross sales at Adyen Thijn Lamers and N26 CFO Jan Kemper.

Whereas European customers are already fairly acquainted with open banking and cost initiation, lots of B2B transfers are nonetheless processed manually. Enterprise banking hasn’t skilled the identical stage of innovation on the subject of funds.

And but, company banks already provide methods to provoke funds with out having to connect with an internet portal and add a spreadsheet. However banks don’t essentially run fashionable REST APIs. They count on a textual content file formatted in a really particular manner on an SFTP server.

In case you have a improvement workforce, they may construct a customized integration. However many corporations merely don’t have the sources to keep up these connections. They’d slightly pay a associate to deal with all of the technical particulars.

Atlar gives a contemporary API that hides all of the complexities concerned with financial institution connections. As soon as an organization makes use of Atlar, it may set off transfers, reconcile transactions and course of direct debits via Atlar’s API straight.

Specifically, Atlar can be utilized for payouts, insurance coverage premiums, deposits and mortgage payouts. Firms that function throughout a number of European international locations probably have a number of financial institution accounts. That’s why automating funds may very well be a pleasant improve for these companies.

“Accepting funds as a enterprise is fairly painless now, however initiating them together with your financial institution remains to be agonisingly gradual and handbook,” Atlar co-founder and CEO Joel Nordström stated in a press release. “This is the reason Atlar is on a journey to changing into the working system for bank-based funds. By creating a brand new class, we hope to unleash a wave of innovation for our shoppers which can finally profit European customers and companies.”

Along with Joel Nordström, Joel Wägmark and Johannes Elgh are the 2 different co-founders. They have been all working at Tink, the open banking firm that was acquired by Visa for $2.2 billion.

Atlar competes with Numeral, a French startup that I coated earlier this yr. To date, Atlar focuses on the Nordics, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. And right now’s funding spherical might be useful on the subject of European growth.