Pre-Seed24 November 2022

Atoa Payments secures £1.8m in pre-seed funding led by Leo Capital and Passion Capital to expand its open banking payment platform.

Leo Capital and Passion Capital led the pre-seed round to help challenge traditional card payment rails.

£1.8MPre-Seed

Atoa Payments provides account-to-account payment technology allowing small retail businesses to accept in-store payments via Open Banking.

Atoa Payments has secured £1.8m in pre-seed funding to challenge the traditional card payment duopoly in the United Kingdom. The financing round was led by Leo Capital and Passion Capital, alongside participation from angel investors such as Matt Robinson and Moon Capital Ventures. The capital will enable the fintech company to expand its merchant network and further develop its open banking payment platform.

The London-based business offers a mobile application enabling small retailers to accept customer payments via QR codes and SMS links, bypassing standard debit card rails and reducing transaction fees by up to 70%. Since launching in June, the company has recorded steady growth in transaction volume and merchant acquisition.

From the founder

"We are grateful to have the support and partnership of such strong investors validating our plans to break the card payment duopoly in the UK and to improve cash flows and economics for the country’s small merchants. At a time of record inflation and in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, the UK’s small and medium merchants are struggling to contain their costs, provide great service to the customers, and maintain profit margins. Atoa is here to empower merchants and to improve their cash flow and bottom line."

Sid Narayanan

CEO at Atoa Payments

Investor perspective

"Atoa has come to the UK market at the right time to leverage open banking and bring to small and medium sized merchants a truly viable alternative to payment cards and card machines that can be deployed in-store within minutes. We’re delighted to work with the Atoa team after their first fintech success and look forward to partnering with them as they achieve even greater heights with Atoa."

Robert Dighero

Co-founder and partner, Passion Capital