Yaspa receives $12m investment led by Discerning Capital to fuel US expansion

Open Banking fintech incorporates US entity based in Atlanta

Yaspa, a hyper-growth London fintech, has received investment in a funding round led by Discerning Capital to fuel its expansion in the United States.

Yaspa is an award-winning fintech providing instant payment and identity services, using open banking technology and AI to help regulated businesses elevate customer intelligence – and cashflow – via its proprietary real-time payments solution, Intelligent Payments.

Along with participation from Metavallon and TechStars Ventures, Discerning Capital is investing $12m (£9m) as it believes Yaspa’s payments process will disrupt the gambling payments ecosystem while adding native player protections.

Yaspa is headquartered in London and it processes payments across a growing number of markets including Europe. It has also recently incorporated a US entity, based in Atlanta, Georgia.

The United States’ open banking market is projected to witness a CAGR of 22.5% during the forecast period 2024-2031, growing from USD 7.08 billion in 2023 to USD 35.79 billion in 2031, according to a 2024 Markets and Data industry report.

Discerning Capital invests in companies that operate at the intersection of online gambling, sports, media, and technology. It focuses on businesses that have proven their model works and need scale capital to further their success. While Yaspa is in hyper-growth mode in its existing markets, Discerning Capital believes that account-to-account (A2A) payments has global appeal for regulated gambling operators, given it is cheaper, reduces chargebacks and allows for seamless integration of player protections.

Yaspa is led by CEO James Neville, who co-founded the company in 2017 after having previously served as a CTO at Worldpay.

He said: “This significant investment marks a major milestone for Yaspa. It enables us to take our proven technology into a new market at pace – hiring a local team, building strategic partnerships and adapting our platform to meet the specific needs of operators.

“We’re looking forward to supporting businesses that want to lead on compliance, player safety and user experience as the market matures.”

David Williams, Partner at Discerning Capital, who will be joining the Yaspa board following the transaction said: “We are excited to be partnering with Yaspa to help them expand deeper into regulated gambling.

“The high-risk nature of gambling payments makes it an area in need of innovation and we believe Yaspa addresses two of the biggest issues: chargebacks and player protections. We believe that any operator who evaluates Yaspa’s A2A product versus their existing payments provider will end up adding Yaspa.”