Fintech is a crowded space, with new challenger banks cropping up all over the place to offer more high-tech alternatives to the legacy firms. Financial institutions like credit unions and local banks need to keep up, and the name of the game is digitization.
This is where fintech startup Narmi comes in. The NYC-based company aims to digitize the entire banking industry, and announced Tuesday that it closed on a $20.4 million Series A led by New Enterprise Associates to help it work toward this mission.
Founded in 2016, Narmi offers an entirely cloud-based platform that allows these financial institutions to build better online and mobile experiences for their customers, digitizing everything from account opening to consumer and business banking. Today, the company says it powers financial institutions with billions of dollars in assets, helping to move millions of dollars on a daily basis.
A key aspect of Narmi’s platform is its openness, which allows financial institutions to more easily build their own extensions and features to cater to their customers’ own unique needs. The company also focuses on offering clear and accessible information about customers’ financial spending, saving and long-term goals, which in turn fosters a more productive relationship with the financial institution.
In the end, the goal of Narmi is to remove any friction that usually comes with more antiquated digital banking services. This has become increasingly important amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when more people than ever are turning to online banking. In fact, recent market research conducted by the nonprofit Bank Administration Institute found that more than half of U.S. consumers have increased their online banking usage since the start of the pandemic, and 87 percent say they plan to continue this practice even after the pandemic is over. This means services like Narmi’s could be more important than ever in the long term.
“We started Narmi with the mission to help financial institutions thrive in a digital-first world and that mission hasn’t changed,” co-founder Nikhil Lakhanpal said in a statement provided to Built In. “Since launching over four years ago, we’ve experienced over 100 percent revenue growth every year, launched four enterprise-grade platforms and helped our partner financial institutions deliver transformational results.”
Looking ahead, Narmi plans to use this fresh funding to expand its current offerings to various financial institutions around the country, as well as grow its team, with several open tech positions available now.
