PayPal invests $11.2 million in Swedish fintech startup Tink

PayPal has made a $11.2 million (10 million euros) strategic investment in Swedish Open Banking platform Tink, a fintech startup that enables banks and financial technology startups to access financial data more easily, the companies said on Tuesday. Tink’s technology has been integrated by leading European players including NatWest, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas Fortis and Klarna.

Founded in 2012 by Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg, Tink is a cloud-based platform that provides the infrastructure and data products that are enabling the future of financial services. The startup offer products such as Account Aggregation, Payment Initiation, Data Enrichment and Personal Finance Management that can be used to develop standalone services or be integrated into existing banking applications. Its partners include ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas Fortis, Nordea, Klarna and SEB.

In a blog post, Tink said: “After biting our tongues for months, we can at last pop the bubbly and announce: PayPal is joining Tink as an investor and a new customer – a major vote of confidence in our tech and an indicator of the strength of the open banking movement in Europe. PayPal is partnering with us to gain access to our account aggregation tech, so it can improve the produce experiences it offers to customers in Europe (to start).”

“It’s a testament to the versatility of our technology; it can be implemented to improve a range of use cases for businesses big and small. Furthermore, PayPal has invested in our platform so we can continue our expansion across Europe. It means we can extend the reach of our open banking technology – and develop the next generation of financial services,” the post added.

“Open banking is transforming financial services, allowing customers to more easily move and manage their money,” says Jennifer Marriner, VP of global markets and partnerships at PayPal. “Tink has developed the infrastructure and data services for this new financial world – and we’re excited to work together to continue to democratise financial services.”