Thought Machine Raises $83M Series B for Cloud-Native Core Banking

Thought Machine, a UK-based cloud-native core banking platform provider founded in 2014 by former Google engineer Paul Taylor, announced an $83 million Series B funding round in March 2020. The round was led by Draper Esprit, with participation from existing investors including Lloyds Banking Group, IQ Capital, Playfair Capital, and Backed. Thought Machine's core product, Vault, is a cloud-native platform that enables financial institutions to offer products such as current accounts, loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

Notable clients at the time included Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, and Atom Bank. The proceeds were earmarked for global expansion, including the opening of a new US office and entry into North America later in 2020, as well as planned launches in Australia and Japan. The raise underscored growing investor appetite for cloud-native core banking infrastructure that underpins Banking-as-a-Service offerings.

The investment positioned Thought Machine to compete more aggressively with legacy core banking vendors and other BaaS-focused platforms on a global scale.