It’s no surprise that industries ranging from healthcare to retail have turned to digital efforts in light of the ongoing pandemic. While the banking industry has used digital components — like mobile deposits — for several years, the push for these services accelerated last year. Yet, B2B banking is still a challenge for many. That’s where Reserve Trust stands out.
Reserve Trust works with businesses embedding domestic and cross-border B2B payments, and says it is the “first fintech trust company with a Federal Reserve master account.” A Federal Reserve master account is something only offered to banks and government entities. The account allows Reserve Trust to move money for customers via FedWire, SWIFT and other payment systems without being connected to a traditional bank. Customers are also able to keep funds in custody accounts backed by the Reserve Trust’s Federal Reserve account.
Now, the Greenwood Village-based fintech company is looking to grow. Reserve Trust announced Wednesday it raised a $30.5 million Series A round, which includes $17.9 million in secondary shares, according to the company.
“While banks will always have an important role to play in B2B commerce, they have struggled to deliver the technology and services that businesses need to fully digitize domestic and international payments,” Reserve Trust CEO Dave Wright said in a statement. “Reserve Trust’s unique combination of a trust charter with a Federal Reserve master account allows us to create foundational payment and custody services delivered via APIs to enable innovation across the entire fintech ecosystem. The funding announced today, including leading investors across the fintech ecosystem, will go a long way to helping us continue to execute on this vision.”
The Series A was led by QED Investors. FinTech Collective, Ardent Venture Partners, Flywire CEO Mike Massaro and Quovo founder and CEO Lowell Putnam also participated in the round.
The fresh funding will be used to accelerate the delivery of new services, APIs and payment platforms. These new services and platforms will support both embedded and real-time payments for businesses, according to the company.
“In terms of the investments we are making, the focus is on scaling the business and operations to be able to handle the overwhelming demand we’ve seen so far, as well as build the team, technology and services needed to address the payment needs of larger, faster-growing fintech’s around the world,” Reserve Trust COO Dave Cahill told Built In via email. “Fundamentally, Reserve Trust is building the technology and services that form a ‘Tier 0’ foundation for high-value B2B payments, designed to enable innovative companies worldwide to embed U.S. dollar custody and payment services easily into their platforms and applications.”
Reserve Trust also plans to grow its team. In May, the company had roughly 30 employees, but over the next six months, it aims to at least double its headcount, Cahill said. In the meantime, Reserve Trust is actively hiring engineers, a payment operations specialist, recruiter and more.
