Yaspa, a fintech firm based in London, has secured over US$10 million in a funding round led by Discerning Capital.

TechStars Ventures, an existing investor in Yaspa, also participated in this funding round.

The company plans to allocate the funds toward hiring, forming local partnerships, and adapting its platform for the US market.

This investment will facilitate the company’s expansion into the United States.

Founded in 2017, Yaspa provides real-time payment and identity services by utilizing open banking and AI. The company has recently set up a US entity in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of its growth strategy.

Discerning Capital, which invests in sectors including online gambling and technology, noted Yaspa’s potential to improve regulated gambling payments.

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🔗 Source: Yaspa

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ US open banking market poised for explosive growth amid regulatory evolution

Yaspa’s US expansion comes at a strategic moment as the American open banking market is projected to grow from $7.08 billion in 2023 to $35.79 billion by 2031, representing a compound annual growth rate of 22.45%1.

This growth rate significantly outpaces the global open banking market, which is expanding at 19.2% annually from a larger base of $28.2 billion in 20242.

The timing is particularly advantageous as regulatory frameworks are evolving to support open banking initiatives, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) implementing new rules that empower consumers to share their financial data securely3.

Despite this opportunity, Yaspa faces a market where approximately 100 million Americans currently use screen-scraping for open banking services, indicating both significant adoption potential and the need for education about API-based alternatives3.

The banking and capital markets segment, which accounted for 59.5% of US open banking revenue in 2024, represents the primary target for Yaspa’s payment solutions as it establishes its Atlanta operations4.

2️⃣ Payment innovations addressing critical compliance needs in regulated gambling

Discerning Capital’s investment in Yaspa’s account-to-account (A2A) payment technology comes amid escalating regulatory pressures in the gambling industry, which incurred $86.2 million in global penalties in 2024 alone5.

The timing is significant as major differences exist between US and UK gambling safeguards, with UK operators implementing mandatory spending limits and customer monitoring that are largely absent in the American market6.

These regulatory gaps create an opportunity for Yaspa’s technology, which promises to reduce chargebacks while integrating player protections—addressing two critical pain points for gambling operators facing increased scrutiny7.

The UK gambling sector is implementing significant regulatory changes by October 2025, including mandatory deposit limits and enhanced transparency requirements, creating a compliance model that US operators will likely need to prepare for8.

US gaming businesses should anticipate similar regulatory evolution as the market matures, particularly as revenues reached $53 billion in 2021 with $16.6 billion reported in Q1 2023 alone, making compliance solutions increasingly valuable7.

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