Backbase raises €120m in growth equity funding

By Leandra Monteiro

Backbase, creator of the category-leading Engagement Banking Platform, raised €120 million in growth equity funding from Motive Partners. Having grown organically to over €200 million in revenue, Backbase is now partnering with a FinTech specialist private equity firm, to further strengthen its claim on the Engagement Banking category.

Jouk Pleiter, Founder and CEO of Backbase said, “Today is a major milestone for more than 2,000 Backbasers and 150 customers around the world, to celebrate the incredible progress we made. With this partnership, we’re even better equipped to drive our Engagement Banking vision to the next level. I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and the positive impact we can make. To all our customers, I personally want to restate our long-term commitment to being your independent, long-term partner in innovation. For us, it is still day one.”

The new investment values Backbase at €2.5 billion. Motive Partners is a founder-friendly partner, fully supporting Backbase in remaining an independent force and driving the Engagement Banking strategy, by continuing to focus on customer-centric innovation that transforms the financial services industry’s siloed channels and legacy applications.

Engagement Banking is a paradigm shift. Rather than stitching these legacy applications together and trying to rework banking around outdated technology, banks and credit unions can instantly leverage the power of a cloud-based engagement banking platform to create frictionless customer journeys across all the stages of the customer lifecycle. From onboarding to servicing, to lending, to expanding share of wallet, this investment supports the growth through product expansion and further growing our sales and marketing operations.

Rob Heyvaert, Founder and Managing Partner of Motive Partners said, “For more than a decade, Backbase has shown leadership and innovation in enhancing digital relationships between financial institutions and its customers. We’re excited to support Jouk and the Backbase team with this initial fundraise as they continue to expand, grow and build the leading, customer-centric, Engagement Banking Platform globally.”

Neil Cochrane, Partner at Motive Partners added, “Backbase continues to lead an innovative category underpinning the banking sector, and we believe that together we have a unique growth opportunity to build upon Backbase’s strong foundations. As Backbase continues it’s growth journey, we’re excited to leverage our team’s depth of expertise alongside Jouk and the team.”

“Backbase’s proven track record of entrepreneurship and organic growth will continue. Our formula is simple: focus on the needs of our customers and empower highly skilled teams to deliver. We’re changing a big industry, which is hard work. Having critical mass and market momentum allows us to stay laser-focused,” Pleiter added. “Together we’re making it happen.”