Atlar, the new kid on the block

European businesses handle bank payments of an estimated USD 260 trillion annually. ?

The crazy part? Most of it is still done manually or through in-house built software that connects directly to the banks’ cash management channels.?

For most businesses, the opportunity cost of building internal bank payments infrastructure is just too high – it eats up capital, time, and deviates focus away from the core product. This is painful for any company, but especially so for companies that move money as a core part of their business: such as marketplaces facilitating payments between buyers and sellers, insurance companies disbursing claims and collecting premiums, etc.?

Atlar, founded by three former Tink employees, Joel Nordstr?m, Joel W?gmark and Johannes Elgh, aims to solve this. They do this by providing two tools: an API any developer can integrate within minutes and a dashboard that gives finance teams full overview and control. On the back of it—hidden in plain sight—they manage a network of connections to the traditional financial services industry that makes it all possible.?

- Accepting payments as a business is pretty painless now but initiating them with your bank is still agonisingly slow and manual, states Atlar co-founder and CEO Joel Nordstr?m. This is why Atlar is on a journey to becoming the operating system for bank-based payments. By creating a new category, we hope to unleash a wave of innovation for our clients which will ultimately benefit European consumers and businesses.?

Today, the?startup raised a EUR 5 million seed round led by Index Ventures. Other investors include La Famiglia VC, Cocoa and various business angels also participated in the round, such as Revolut CFO Mikko Salovaara, former EVP of global sales at Adyen Thijn Lamers and N26 CFO Jan Kemper.?

So far Atlar offers its solution in?the Nordics, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with today’s funding round to help with further European expansion.?