• Romanian platform for financial product development Fintech OS secures USD 60M of Series B+ investment
• The platform facilitates innovation for traditional financial institutions by providing a seamless environment for developing tailored financial products
• The company will use the new investment to reinforce product development, particularly AI-related, and hire more talent specializing in banking and insurance

This May, FintechOS – the celebrated Romanian-founded low-code platform for custom innovative solutions for financial institutions – attracted USD 60M of funding in Series B+ round of investment. The round is co-led by Molten Ventures, Cipio Partners, and Blackrock, with the participation of FintechOS’ loyal supporters OTB Ventures, GapMinder VC (invested in Synaptiq, among others), and Earlybird (invested in Anari AI, among others).

Seasoned Entrepreneurs to Facilitate Innovation in Finance

FintechOS’ two founders – Sergiu Negut and Teodor Blidarus – can boast about profound experience in tech, finance, and entrepreneurship. Mr Blidarus spent over 25 years in the financial tech industry, working on big changes in banking, insurance, and embedded finance internationally. Mr Negut, meanwhile, is an entrepreneur and angel investor with a strong background in growing businesses across various sectors like healthcare, IT&C, financial services, and consulting. Their vast experience in their sectors allowed them to realize how complicated and rigid core systems were in the financial services industry and inspired them to start FintechOS in 2017.

‘At that moment, we noticed a big gap in the market for a platform that could make financial product management and innovation easier and faster. We wanted to create a solution that would allow financial institutions to modernize their core systems without expensive and risky migrations, making financial innovation accessible to companies everywhere,’ Mr Blidarus recalls.

Problems of Innovation in Traditional Financial Institutions

According to FintechOS’ founders, Financial institutions often struggle with outdated and inflexible core systems that hinder rapid innovation as up to 95% of market leaders identify such systems as a major barrier to product innovation. Relying solely on internal efforts is challenging due to limited resources, expertise, and high development costs. 

‘Large financial institutions have established structures and processes that may not be conducive to rapid innovation. Their IT departments are often focused on maintaining existing systems, making it challenging for them to pivot towards developing new, cutting-edge solutions. Innovation may not be at the core of these institutions’ operations,’ CAPEX.com‘s founder and CEO Octavian Pătrașcu comments.

What FintechOS offers is a low-code / no-code platform where financial institutions can create their own financial products and tailor them to any specific requirements. The end-to-end financial product management platform integrates seamlessly with existing systems, allowing institutions to modernize traditional banking and insurance products, create value-added bundles, and launch embedded propositions quickly across any line of business. This minimizes risk, reduces costs, and enables financial institutions to focus on delivering excellent customer experience without needing to replace their core systems.

‘FintechOS is a financial product management platform that helps banks, insurers, and other financial institutions modernize their core systems. It enables these institutions to quickly create, distribute, and manage financial products without replacing their core systems or undertaking costly and lengthy IT projects. With flexible and innovative technology, FintechOS empowers financial institutions to deliver better services, stay competitive, and adapt to changing market demands,’ Mr Blidarus explains.

Rapidly Developing Platform

Since the 2017 launch, FintechOS has hit quite a number of key milestones. The recent ones include:

• 2021: A successful Series B funding round to fuel significant growth.
• 2021-2024: Over 300% growth, onboarding key customers such as Société Générale, Admiral, Benenden Health, Avant Money, and Vibrant Credit Union.
• 2024: Recognition by leading industry analysts Gartner and Celent as a representative vendor in core banking, lending, and insurance technology.
• 2024: Significant operational improvements, including a 40% year-over-year growth and a 170% increase in operating margins.

‘We have been early investors and big believers of Teo Blidarus’s vision at FintechOS. No industry has come under as much attack as Financial Services over the last decade, with the tidal wave of Fintech offerings. The industry’s software capabilities have been stretched and stressed out, and FintechOS’s suite of solutions give the incumbents critical tools to respond to the changing expectations of their customers. The company has enjoyed healthy growth through their partnerships with banks and insurers and we are proud to continue to back them in their quest to help transform these industries,’ Cem Sertoglu, co-founder and managing partner of the Digital East Fund at Earlybird, tells ITKeyMedia.

For Cipio Partners, FintechOS’s growth trajectory is a clear indicator of their potential. “We are delighted to be part of this journey and look forward to seeing the transformative impact they will make in the financial services sector.” the fund’s managing partner Roland Dennert states.

‘FintechOS’ track record with major banks and insurers demonstrates a rare ability to drive significant change within these organizations. They are at the forefront of transforming financial services through innovative technology,’ Molten Ventures’ partner Vinoth Jayakumar.

Plans: Product development and Staff Expansion

The funding round strengthens FintechOS’s position as a market leader and validates its approach to core modernization through next-generation financial product management. USD 60M of new funding will primarily support our efforts to expand globally, particularly in the US, UK, and Continental Europe, while enabling banks and insurers to modernize core systems. To achieve this, according to Mr Blidarus, FintechOS will focus internally on three main areas:

• product development, including significant advancements in AI integration
• customer support and operations, where the company plans to recruit experienced professionals in banking and insurance
• continuous development of strategic partnerships

Jointly, these initiatives will help the platform to improve client satisfaction further and broaden its reach in the financial services industry.

‘Looking ahead, we remain dedicated to helping financial institutions modernize their core systems and deliver superior customer experiences. We will put all our efforts into further developing our platform, and helping our customers and partners achieve their goals. Additionally, we are committed to fostering a company culture that supports innovation, encourages new ideas, and empowers initiatives,’ Mr Blidarus concludes.