Fintech/News/ Crypto API provider Pile raises €2.8m to enable fintechs’ forays into crypto Pile is tapping into the ever-growing market of fintechs that want to begin offering crypto — by handling the difficult bits behind the scenes By Amy O'Brien 14 June 2022 Jessica Holzbach, Pile's CEO and cofounder Jessica Holzbach, Pile's CEO and cofounder \Fintech Getting killed by your crypto holdings? Invest in distressed credit and forests By Eleanor Warnock 7 February 2023 Fintech/News/ Crypto API provider Pile raises €2.8m to enable fintechs’ forays into crypto Pile is tapping into the ever-growing market of fintechs that want to begin offering crypto — by handling the difficult bits behind the scenes By Amy O'Brien 14 June 2022 Berlin-based crypto API provider Pile has raised €2.8m in a pre-seed funding round, Sifted can reveal. Led by Female Innovators Lab by Barclays and Anthemis, the round has also raised money from Auxxo, fintech investor Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital, and a bucketload of angels. What does Pile do? Pile has built a software platform that deals with the complicated aspects of integrating a crypto offering into an existing fintech. If a neobank, for example, wants to launch crypto wallets or a crypto trading platform, Pile provides them with a simple API platform, while handling the legal intricacies associated with smart contracts behind-the-scenes. It’s headed up by cofounder and CEO Jessica Holzbach, who cofounded B2B bank Penta and has poached some of her former colleagues for her new venture. First up, it’s focusing on crypto wallets so that neobanks and the likes can finally answer their customers’ desires and move away from negative interest. Apparently this is the most requested use case — and it certainly sounds familiar after Sifted recently spoke to N26 CEO Valentin Stalf about the digital bank’s plans to do exactly that. Cue a peak at Pile’s list of “strategic” angel investor picks … Who’s investing in Pile? This is where we get a sniff of the clients that Pile may have in the works. (In fact, Holzbach says Holvi are already signed up, as Pile looks to focus on B2B companies first.) Female Innovators Lab by Barclays and Anthemis Auxxo Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital Maximilian Tayenthal, founder and Co-CEO at N26 Holvi Carolin Gabor, CEO at Movinx Christian Reber, founder of Pitch and Superlist What’s the market like? In the US, conduit.financial operates on a similar business model, and arda.finance has Asia covered. But in Europe, it’s more of a mixed bag — some traditional banking-as-a-service providers (BaaS) have dipped their toes into crypto, but no one’s had a pure focus on crypto custody providers as of yet. On the flip side, Openpayd recently launched a BaaS product to allow crypto companies to access traditional banking systems. At Penta, Holzbach was responsible for banking operations and got constant feedback from its business customers that wanted to make their money work — which got her thinking about how this could be possible. What’s next for the company? Further down the line, Pile plans to help fintechs with faster international payment gateways, and even the option to pay salaries in crypto. For now, it’s using this fresh capital to grow its tech and product teams (very conservatively) from its current founding team of four to twelve by the end of the year. Pile’s founding team is based in Germany, but its client base is pan-European. It’s working on getting the necessary licenses and testing watertight security as it goes live with pilot customers in different countries. Sifted’s take Every day Sifted seems to speak to a neobank or fintech CEO, ask them what’s next and get a response of a crypto wallet or trading platform. But pretty much everyone is scratching their head as to how to actually do that and stay compliant. Pile is tapping into a red-hot market here — let’s hope the current crypto downturn doesn’t give those CEOs the chills. Amy O’Brien is a reporter at Sifted. She tweets from @Amy_EOBrien and writes our fintech newsletter — you can sign up here. Related Articles Introducing the Sifted Fintech newsletter By Sifted Click here to read more With fraudsters storming the internet, digital gatekeeping is booming In partnership with Plaid Click here to read more Revolut-rival Monese set to make 30 employees into millionaires as it eyes unicorn status By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more Italian sales software platform Superlayer raises $1.3m from star-studded list of investors By Amy O'Brien Click here to read more Most Read 1 \Startup Life Tech Nation shutting down as UK government controversially pulls key funding 2 \Healthtech Spotify founder Daniel Ek officially launches new startup — and this time, he’s taking on healthcare 3 \Startup Life Series A funding for startups: What VCs want to see from founders in 2023 4 \Sustainability Planet A closes €160m for science-based climate investing 5 \Startup Life Five women and multicultural founders to watch in 2023
With fraudsters storming the internet, digital gatekeeping is booming In partnership with Plaid Click here to read more
Revolut-rival Monese set to make 30 employees into millionaires as it eyes unicorn status By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more
Italian sales software platform Superlayer raises $1.3m from star-studded list of investors By Amy O'Brien Click here to read more