Extend Raises $11M To Arm Businesses With Virtual Cards

FinTech startup Extend announced it has raised $11 million in Series A financing, as it tries to capitalize on interest in virtual credit cards.

In a press release, Extend said the funding was led by Point72 Ventures and FinTech Collective, with additional participation from Reciprocal Ventures and strategic partner City National Bank. The firm will use proceeds from the funding to ink more partnerships with banks, add more features to its app and open APIs and build out its team of engineers, marketing professionals and operations executives.

Extend, which was founded in 2017 by American Express and Capital One veterans, provides the technology so companies can provide virtual credit cards to employees and contractors instantly. With the Extend platform, a company can control how much credit is extended, what type of purchases it can be used for and by whom.

“Extend allows banks to keep up with the fast pace of the evolving payment landscape. Our cutting-edge capabilities sit seamlessly on top of existing bank card platforms, eliminating traditional technical hurdles to deployment,” Extend CEO Andrew Jamison said in the press release. “We lead the way for future financial innovation by serving as the layer between FinTech startups and financial institutions, enabling them to better integrate their services for the mutual benefit of their customers.”

Extend’s technology is already integrated with Mastercard and Visa and it counts nearly half a dozen banks as strategic partners. With the platform, businesses can instantly send virtual credit cards to anyone with unique spending limits and validity periods, giving companies more control over how corporate cards are used.

“Customers across industries want easy-to-use solutions to their payment challenges, such as instantly providing access to a credit card without losing spend control or adding onerous processes. In Extend, we found both the mobile-based technology our clients need combined with a team of industry experts that we wanted to work with,” Vince Hruska, head of enterprise cards at City National Bank, said in the press release.

The fundraising on the part of Extend comes as virtual cards are getting more attention thanks to Amazon’s late March announcement of the Apple Card.  The credit card, which will launch in the summer, has zero fees and boasts lower interest rates. Customers apply and get approved via the wallet on their iPhones and get instant access to a virtual card.