Dustin Hubbard, President of Archway
Redmond-based Archway — a fintech startup whose platform enables community and regional banks to easily integrate their core banking products with the latest web, mobile, voice and artificial intelligence technologies — announced Tuesday that it raised $15 million dollars in Series A funding led by WaFd Bank and venture capital firm Madrona.
Archway, formerly known as Pike Street Labs, emerged from WaFd and was shown last year in 425 Business.
There are more than 10,000 community and regional banks in the United States that are hampered by a lack of technology to compete with their national and global counterparts, according to the press release announcing the funding. Archway aims to bring digital capabilities for big banks to other banks.
“The consumer fintech revolution has reimagined what’s possible for banks, but the technology is difficult to build and expensive to integrate,” Dustin Hubbard, Archway’s president, said in the release. “Banking infrastructure is highly regulated, and many banks have systems that work well for the business of running the bank, but are not optimized for customer service, which puts the bank at a disadvantage. With a cloud-based approach, we abstract the complexity for banks and let them easily integrate the technologies their consumers want.”
Steve Singh, CEO of Madrona, added: “In a world where consumers can bank anywhere and expect Uber and Amazon-like banking experiences, the banking community needs a platform that can serve both the business needs of the bank and the needs and wants of the banks. current and future customers. Archway has already proven its ability to build and deploy services that banks and consumers want, and we’re excited to partner with the team to continue building.”
Singh has joined Archway’s board as part of Madrona’s financing.
WaFd Bank CEO Brent Beardall and Singh, Archway’s chairman, recognized the need to build a robust technology team that would ensure continued growth of WaFd Bank and also saw that the industry needed the solution across the country.
Beardall said WaFd Bank has built high-value personal banking relationships with its customers, and Archway is doing so in a technology-first environment that enables the highest customer service and employee satisfaction.
“Technology can and should drive improved customer experience, stronger controls and more efficiency,” he said in the release. “I’ve heard from banks around the country that what we’ve started building is the solution they’ve been looking for, and we’re excited to support Dustin and the team as they roll out solutions for WaFd and other banks.”
