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Fintech startup Save has reached an agreement to use Galileo Financial Technologies Inc.’s API-driven payments-processing platform for its Debit Invest debit cards and Save Market Savings accounts.
Galileo’s platform is expected to make it easier for Save customers to open and fund their accounts and integrate them with Save’s bank partners’ back-end systems. Save expects to process more than $7 billion in transaction volume over the next three years.
Save’s Debit Invest Card is an alternative to traditional rewards cards through which cardholders can earn airline miles, cash back, or points toward the purchase of a new card that would, for example, match every dollar spent with investments in a managed portfolio. Money invested stays in the portfolio for one year. Save’s Market Savings account invests interest earned on a savings account in stocks, bonds, and other assets to juice the account’s return. Investments are made based on the customer’s risk profile.
“Galileo was designed to interact with startups and small companies that need a processor that can partner with issuing banks (and financial institutions),” says Ben Jackson, chief operating officer for the Washington, D.C.-based Innovative Payments Association, in an email message. “Bigger processors can do the same thing, but they tend to be focused on larger clients first.”
Jackson adds that Galileo has been moving toward servicing demand-deposit accounts for a while, so working with a company such as Save is not new territory.
Leveraging Galileo’s platform will make it easier for Save to work with banks and add value for customers, says Michael Nelskyla, chief executive at Save.
“Our relationship with Galileo builds a robust regulatory framework for safe processing of customer deposits and debit card transactions,” Nelskyla says in a prepared statement. “Our customers can feel comfortable and confident that their money is secure while their Save accounts are being opened, during transfers between banks, and with every transaction on their Debit Invest card.”
Other fintechs Galileo counts as clients include Chime, Greenlight, MoneyLion, Monzo, Revolut, TransferWise and Social Finance Inc. (SoFi), which reached an agreement to acquire Galileo in April for $1.2 billion.
Galileo’s acquisition by SoFi is expected to accelerate the pace of Galileo’s technology innovation. The deal will also extend the reach of Galileo’s products to other partners in the United States and international markets, while offering diversification and scale to SoFi’s existing infrastructure.
“That Galileo is still doing third-party work for other companies (such as Save) after the acquisition by SoFi bodes well for Galileo’s future,” says Jackson.
