Highnote, a firm specializing in modern card issuance and program management, announced the closing of $90 million in Series B funding and the launch of its acquiring solution.
The investment round was reportedly led by Adams Street Partners along with participation from existing investors: Oak HC/FT, Costanoa, WestCap, and Pinegrove Venture Partners.
Robin Murray, Partner at Adams Street Partners said:
“Highnote’s transformational platform and impressive growth trajectory motivated us to lead this funding round. We are excited to support the company’s vision to lead innovation in embedded finance.”
With the launch of its acquiring solution, Highnote now supports full pay-in and pay-out functionality for customers on the same platform “as issuing, leveraging a unified, core general ledger, and resulting in unmatched cost and time-saving benefits.”
With Highnote’s embedded finance platform, enterprise customers and B2B platforms can manage “all internal, vendor, and customer-facing financial transaction activity on a single, unified, reconciled payments platform.”
The API-based acquiring platform allows companies to “accept card payments online via plug-in checkout software or custom features they design.”
Built by the team who developed Braintree, Highnote’s acquiring platform is directly integrated to the payment networks – “creating streamlined data access, transparency, and better economics for customers.”
With certification by all major US card brands, Highnote’s expansion into acquiring positions the company as a “solution for SMBs and enterprises looking for a holistic approach to embedded payments.”
John MacIlwaine, CEO of Highnote said:
“We are excited to partner with Adams Street in our next phase of growth and about our entrance into the acquiring space, which accelerates the expansion of our world-class embedded finance and issuing platform. The acquiring landscape has evolved over time and represents an opportunity for next generation customers to accelerate growth through embedded acquiring in addition to embedded issuing.”
With this funding and the completion of its unified issuing and acquiring platform, Highnote is positioned to “serve the most demanding and innovative use cases in embedded finance – from fast-growing vertical solution providers to enterprise brands and marketplaces and financial institutions seeking a flexible, robust, scalable platform for growth and competitive differentiation.”
As noted in the update, Highnote is an embedded finance company setting the standard in “modern card platform management.”
Its integrated technology enables companies of all sizes to “embed virtual and physical card payments, ledger, and wallet functionalities into their products, creating compelling value for users.”
Highnote reports that it has raised “more than $145 million from investors and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.”
