SoftBank pours $250 million into banking tech start-up Zeta

Written by Tanya Andreasyan
26th May 2021

Zeta, a banking tech start-up in San Francisco, has secured $250 million in investment from SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO & co-founder, Zeta

This Series C investment values the vendor at $1.45 billion, making it “one of the largest single investments in a banking tech start-up globally”, it says.

Zeta’s flagship offering is Omni Stack – “a modern, cloud-native platform” for banks to “improve speed to market, agility, cost to income ratio, and user experience”, says Bhavin Turakhia, the company’s CEO and co-founder.

“Most banks are using decades old software built at a time when mainframes and Cobol were in vogue. As a result they have been slow to innovate and provide poor user experiences,” he adds.

Omni Stack aims to facilitate a quick launch of products and services that consumers want today. It comprises:

Zeta Tachyon Credit, Debit and Prepaid processing with card controls and personal finance management (PFM) capabilities;
Zeta Tachyon Loans – a buy now, pay later (BNPL) and personal loan management platform;
Zeta Tachyon Deposits – a “modern core” for DDA, checking accounts, savings accounts and deposits;
Zeta Tachyon Mobile – a ready-made, white labelled, customisable mobile app.

Ramki Gaddipati, CTO & co-founder, Zeta

Zeta has ten banks and 25 fintechs in eight countries on its client list. Among them is India’s HDFC Bank and France’s Sodexo, an issuer of employee benefits and rewards. Sodexo participated as an additional minority investor in the round.

The new investment will be used to grow the company’s presence in the US and Europe (it already operates in North and Latin Americas, Europe and the UK, and Asia) and scale its operations, team and platform.

“The industry needs systems reinvented with security, privacy, scalability and reliability as the core foundations. Zeta’s Omni Stack answers that need,” states Ramki Gaddipati, Zeta’s CTO and co-founder.