New fintech-focused acceleration firm backs Malta-based wamo

A new fintech acceleration firm that aims to help startups “hyper-scale” by extending its expertise and “deep intellectual capital” to its partners has selected an Anglo-Maltese firm as one of its first two investments.

After a “rigorous” selection process that evaluated over 200 fintech firms, archie, led by Steve Brennen (a former director at companies like Uber, PayPal and eBay), Anthony Thomson (a serial entrepreneur who founded Atom Bank and Metro Bank), and Paul Pester (Chair of Tandem Bank, former CEO of TSB and Virgin Money globally, and founder of money-sharing social network Loop) has identified wamo as one of the most promising fintechs in Europe.

Headquartered in London and Malta, wamo is focused on cross-border payments for SMEs, making it easy to access business accounts with human-led support.

In July, wamo announced that it has secured $5 million (€4.52 million) in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to $11.8 million (€10.68 million). Among its investors are the corporate venture division of Turkish bank Fibabank, Turkish alternative asset management firm Re-Pie, and Turkish venture capital firm Logo Ventures.

Concurrently, wamo obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence in the EU from Finland’s financial supervisory authority, allowing it to accelerate its growth across the bloc.

The firm cites 300 per cent year-on-year revenue growth and over €2.5 billion transactions processed since its launch in 2021.

Yanki Onen, CEO and Founder of wamo, commented: “Since launching wamo, we’ve been relentlessly focused on removing the barriers that SMEs face when opening a business account and managing their finances.”

The other inaugural investment for the new firm is in ekko, a climate-focused fintech startup that plants trees when customers use its debit card.

archie said that both wamo and ekko “demonstrate significant growth potential and are well-positioned to succeed with archie’s expert guidance.”

The new fintech acceleration partner aims to invest its deep intellectual capital to turn “high-potential fintech disruptors into standout winners.”

archie co-founder Paul Pester said: “archie exists to solve a very particular problem: helping high-potential firms reach growth. While capital is crucial, what’s often missing is intellectual capital, investing our time and expertise, offering the hands-on support.

“With the backing of archie, both wamo and ekko are well-positioned to thrive in their respective fields, primed for growth and the opportunity to be real category leaders.”

The archie team will work side-by-side with businesses, deploying its team of scaling experts to supercharge growth, and maximising chances of success with senior, on-the-ground operational support, it said.

archie operates an equity model, exchanging its support, networks, expertise and proven playbooks as services for equity.

Its ethos is that “venture capital alone is not enough”, with it instead investing its “intellectual capital” for equity, ensuring skin in the game and aligned interests with founders and investors alike.

archie’s co-founders Paul Pester and Anthony Thomson have joined the boards of wamo and ekko respectively, helping to guide the scale-ups through their next phases of growth.