Berlin-based finperks has closed a $4 million pre-seed funding round
led by Motive Partners and seed+speed Ventures. The company is developing API
infrastructure for the global prepaid market, including gift cards, eCash, and
prepaid cards, a sector projected to reach $4.24 trillion by 2035.
Demand for digital rewards, cashback, and employee benefits continues
to grow, but the infrastructure supporting prepaid products remains fragmented.
Banks, fintech companies, and HR platforms seeking to offer these services
often need to integrate with multiple providers across issuing, brand
partnerships, settlement, and compliance, which can slow product launches and
limit regional availability.
finperks aims to simplify this process by providing a single API that
gives partners access to more than 1,000 brands across Europe. Through a single
integration, organisations can offer services such as brand-funded cashback
deposited directly into bank accounts, digital employee benefits including
Germany’s €50-per-month tax-free “Sachbezug,” and instant digital gift cards
embedded within financial products.
Banks need cashback to retain and engage users. HR Platforms need
benefits as a logical extension to upsell clients. None of them want to build
prepaid infrastructure. They want to plug into it,
said Sebastian Seifert,
co-founder and co-CEO.
Six months after launch, finperks has already integrated with several
platforms. Payment app Flizpay uses finperks to offer brand-funded cashback
paid directly into users’ bank accounts at the point of purchase. HR platforms
Recardy and Paylo use the system to distribute Germany’s tax-free employee
benefits without requiring additional infrastructure.
The new funding will be
used to expand the company’s engineering team, strengthen brand partnerships,
and scale operations across additional European markets.