16. Banked

Founders: Brad Goodall
Year founded: 2018
Website: banked.com

Whoever coined the phrase ‘patience is a virtue’ has clearly never done internet shopping. In the age of the smartphone. We want it all on-demand and on the go. So why, when you can order a taxi in two taps, is the online checkout process still slower than an old-school cashier?

Finding a faster way to settle up is the ultimate mission statement of our sixteenth top startup, Banked. The checkout challenger allows customers to pay for a product in a single interaction. By avoiding the need for bank details, the process is dramatically accelerated for consumers, while merchants can enjoy a healthy conversion rate boost.

Businesses build the Banked product suite directly into their payment gateway. Banked will then use a combination of biometric security, QR codes, and SMS messages to authorise payments made through the service, permitting users to pay off their bill with a personalised verification method like a pin, fingerprint, or face ID.

Banked uses a combination of biometric security, QR codes, and SMS messages to authorise secure payments

As a result, shoppers don’t have to worry about sharing any sensitive financial information. Time-consuming tasks like creating a login, or entering a bank account number – both of which can cause customers to leave a full cart behind – are also scrapped.

Trust is a big thing for fintechs to earn, and Banked’s enhanced encryption method seems to have won over sellers.

It claims its product suite leads to 96% lower fraud cases, while its ability to deliver instant refunds results in zero chargebacks for merchants.

Banked has so far raised £35m in Series A funding in rounds led by Bank of America and Insight Partners.

The startup has banked itself a fair amount of dough since it launched in 2018. Having dodged the fintech funding drought last year, Banked has so far raised £35m in Series A funding in rounds led by Bank of America and Insight Partners.

And, carving out some impressive partnerships with Tier 1 banks, Banked has already made significant inroads to establish itself as a must-have product for today’s mobile consumer.

Banked’s unique account-to-account solution means its customers will be laughing all the way past the bank this year. We’re thrilled to welcome it to the Startups 100 Index as our top-rated fintech for 2024.