Upvest Closes €12M Series A+ to Build European Securities API

Upvest, a Berlin-based fintech, closed a €12 million Series A+ funding round on December 10, 2020, to scale its plug-and-play securities API designed for neobanks, neobrokers, and other fintech platforms across Europe. The API enables partners to embed investment products including ETFs, equities, commodities, and tokenized illiquid assets such as real estate, while maintaining European regulatory compliance. Upvest claims its proprietary blockchain custody technology reduces costs by up to 85% compared to legacy infrastructure.

The company's existing customers, including Bitwala and Exporo, have already generated over €100 million in transaction volume through the platform. The round included a €5 million investment from Earlybird, supplementing €7 million previously raised from Notion Capital, HV Capital, and Partech. Proceeds will be used to obtain a German brokerage bank license (Wertpapierhandelsbank) for investment brokerage and custody services.

The company is positioning itself to capture growing millennial demand for accessible investment products, particularly as negative interest rates push savers toward capital markets. This move strengthens Upvest's role as embedded finance infrastructure for the European BaaS ecosystem.