Accel Leads $77M Funding Round For Galileo FinTech

Galileo, a FinTech whose APIs help run companies like Chime, Robinhood, Monzo, Revolut, TransferWise and Varo, has announced a $77 million Series A funding round led by Accel, with participation from Ryan Smith, the CEO of Qualtrics.

The company has been growing rapidly, and will use the capital to expand into the U.K., Europe and Latin America, and to continue investing in new products.

“Over the years, we’ve built the API standard for card-issuing programs and FinTech innovation, focusing on a feature-rich product set, profitability and delighting our clients,” Galileo Founder and CEO Clay Wilkes said in a press release. “This funding will help us double-down on these themes, while also becoming more aggressive in expanding geographically and providing the building blocks for the world’s most innovative payments programs. We’re thrilled to be working with Accel and Ryan Smith.”

Galileo’s APIs help companies to start and verify new accounts, and to issue and process payment cards. The company helps by integrating all payment methods – debit, credit, mobile or prepaid – on one platform.

Galileo is responsible for more than $26 billion in yearly payments volume, which is an increase of 130 percent over a year ago. The company is instrumental in the neobank, gig economy and SaaS industries, among others.

“We’re in a golden era of FinTech innovation, and Galileo has quietly built the API infrastructure layer powering the industry’s most innovative products,” said Accel Partner John Locke, who is joining the Galileo board of directors as part of the investment. “Clay and his team have built a very impressive business with many parallels to companies like Qualtrics and Atlassian: bootstrapping first to build a quiet, profitable powerhouse and now, ready to go big globally. We’re excited to help Clay and team take Galileo to the next level.”