New investors JPMorgan Chase Strategic Investments, Standard Chartered Ventures and ING Ventures join cap table and client list

• Nyca Partners leads Series C round raising Thought Machine’s valuation to more than $1bn

• New institutional investors include ING Ventures, JPMorgan Chase Strategic Investments and Standard Chartered Ventures

• Lloyds Banking Group, who led Thought Machine’s Series A round is also participating in this funding round and continues to invest in the business to maintain its shareholding

Thought Machine, the cloud native core banking technology firm, today announces the close of its series C funding round, bringing $200m into the business from new and existing investors. This new round sees Thought Machine achieve unicorn status.

This round was led by Nyca Partners, a New York and San Francisco-based venture capital firm, with investment also coming from the investment arms of some of Thought Machine’s global tier one banking clients – ING Ventures, JPMorgan Chase, and Standard Chartered Ventures. Existing investors Lloyds Banking Group, British Patient Capital, Eurazeo, SEB, Molten Ventures (formerly Draper Esprit), Backed, and IQ Capital have all participated in the round. 

This announcement follows a period of accelerated growth as Thought Machine executes its internationalisation strategy and continues to deploy cloud native core banking technology into the world’s most ambitious banks and fintechs.

In October 2021, Thought Machine relocated to a larger London HQ to support its headcount growth after adding more than 200 employees since 2020.

Thought Machine will be using the funding to continue developing and expanding Vault. The firm intends to further develop Vault and its Universal Product Engine, which allows for unparalleled flexibility in product development and configuration. The company will expand its international reach, strengthening its five global offices and targeting new key markets to accelerate the adoption of cloud native core banking globally. 

Founded in 2014 by former Google engineer Paul Taylor, Thought Machine provides modern, cloud native core banking technology to some of the largest and most ambitious banks in the world. Many of Thought Machine’s investors are also clients, including Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, SEB and others – signalling to the market Thought Machine’s critical role in the future of global banking technology.

Paul Taylor, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Thought Machine: 

We are delighted to have earned the support of our new and existing investors as we continue to move the world’s leading banks into the cloud. We set out to eradicate legacy technology from the industry and ensure that all banks deployed on Vault can succeed and deliver on their ambitions. These new funds will accelerate the delivery of Vault into banks around the world who wish to implement their future vision of financial services.

Hans Morris, Managing Partner, Nyca Partners:

Thought Machine is the leading technology among the new generation of cloud native core platforms, and as a result it has become the top choice for tier one banks looking to upgrade their core architecture. These institutions tell us that Thought Machine’s engineering approach is unrivalled; Vault is highly configurable, flexible, scalable, and specifically designed for the complex environment and requirements of tier one banks. Investing in Thought Machine is an investment in the future of banking and we are very energized to be working with them as they build a new standard for core banking technology.

Alex Manson, Head of SC Ventures, Standard Chartered:

The deployment of Thought Machine is tied to our digital banking strategy, as we have adopted Thought Machine as the core banking software for our digital banks in Singapore and Hong Kong. Thought Machine’s cloud-native and agnostic technology stack offers agile and easily replicable deployment across markets, boosting our ability to roll out efficient digital banks with great customer experience in other markets. Digital Banking is one of our high-conviction themes, as we strongly believe finance should be a seamless experience embedded in our customers’ lifestyles. This will continue to be a focus area for SC Ventures.