Upward, a fintech infrastructure platform provider, this week announced its $8 million Series Seed-plus round. It was co-led by Dundee Venture Capital and Breakwater Ventures Fund, with participation from Techstars, Altari Ventures, Cascade Seed Fund, and Outside Ventures.
The company also announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard to provide its embedded financial technology solutions to Upward’s customers, enabling them to launch a Mastercard-branded card program in weeks.
“At Upward, we’re transforming the way financial products are built,” said Aaron Gregory, co-founder and CEO of Upward. “For too long, businesses that wanted to offer a financial product have had to choose between innovation, flexibility, and speed. This investment and our Mastercard partnership will help to tear down those barriers — empowering our customers to launch and operate smarter, customer-centric financial products faster than ever.”
Upward’s platform provides turnkey embedded fintech infrastructure designed to allow companies to launch branded credit card, payment, and banking products without the need to navigate complex regulatory and technical integrations with multiple vendors. By combining banking, payments, cards, and compliance capabilities in a single, developer-friendly platform, Upward aims to empower its customers — from gig economy and creator platforms — to offer financial products built for the unique needs of their end users.
“Speed and compliance don’t have to be at odds,” said Danielle Hill, co-founder and COO of Upward. “We’ve built the infrastructure to make financial innovation not only faster but also more flexible for our customers. This next phase is about execution – helping customers transform their innovative visions into revenue-generating products in record time.”
The $8 million round, including new capital and conversion of convertible equity, will be used to expand the company’s infrastructure, grow its engineering and partnerships capabilities, and bring its turnkey platform to more companies across fintech, creator, and gig workforce sectors.
The partnership with Mastercard intends to deepen Upward’s ability to deliver innovative financial experiences by integrating Mastercard’s network and program benefits — including Mastercard’s Easy Savings and innovative Business Builder Program — into its financial infrastructure. This collaboration supports Upward’s customers in launching credit card programs, with a particular focus on empowering the small business and creator economy.
“We’re proud to partner with Upward to help close the financial inclusion gap and uplift the small business community,” said Ginger Siegel, North America small business lead at Mastercard. “By combining Mastercard’s global payments expertise and technology with (their) innovative fintech infrastructure, we’re equipping creators and entrepreneurs with the tools, resources, and financial access they need to grow and thrive—through solutions like Easy Savings and our Business Builder program.”
