Berlin-based finperks, a startup aiming to become the API layer for the global prepaid economy, has raised €3.4 million in pre-Seed funding.
The round was led by Motive Partners and seed+speed Ventures, backing a founding team with a strong track record in scaling financial infrastructure.
Built by Operators Who’ve Done It Before
finperks was founded in 2025 by:
- Achim Bönsch
- Sebastian Seifert
- Andreas Veller
The trio previously built viafintech (Barzahlen)—a major bank-independent cash network acquired by Paysafe in a nine-figure deal.
Now, they’re tackling a new but similarly overlooked layer of financial services: prepaid infrastructure.
Fixing a Fragmented System
Despite rapid growth in:
- Cashback programs
- Digital rewards
- Employee benefits
…the underlying infrastructure remains highly fragmented.
Today, companies that want to offer prepaid products must integrate:
- Issuers
- Brand partnerships
- Settlement providers
- Compliance layers
This leads to:
- Slow rollouts
- Regional limitations
- Poor user experience
One API to Replace Them All
finperks simplifies this complexity into a single API integration.
With one connection, clients can:
- Access 1,000+ brands across Europe
- Offer brand-funded cashback paid directly into bank accounts
- Launch digital employee benefits (like Germany’s €50/month tax-free allowance)
- Embed instant gift cards into financial products
As Co-CEO Sebastian Seifert explains:
“Companies don’t want to build prepaid infrastructure. They want to plug into it.”
Early Traction Across FinTech and HR
Just six months after launch, finperks is already live with multiple platforms:
- Payment app Flizpay offers ~5% instant cashback at checkout
- HR platforms Recardy and Paylo use finperks to distribute tax-free employee benefits
This highlights a key insight:
👉 Prepaid is not just a payments feature—it’s becoming a core engagement and retention layer.
A Hidden €1.2 Trillion Opportunity
The prepaid market is massive:
- ~€1.2 trillion in size
- Double-digit growth
- Increasing adoption across retail and financial services
Yet it remains:
- Operationally inefficient
- Dependent on multiple intermediaries
- Largely invisible to end users
finperks is betting that this space will follow the same path as payments:
👉 From fragmented infrastructure → to developer-first platforms (like Stripe)
Why This Matters
finperks sits at the intersection of several powerful trends:
- Embedded finance
- API-first infrastructure
- Employer-driven financial benefits
- Consumer demand for rewards and cashback
If successful, it could become the default infrastructure layer for prepaid products, much like Stripe did for online payments.
What This Means
The rise of companies like finperks signals a broader shift:
👉 Financial services are being rebuilt as modular APIs
👉 Hidden layers like prepaid are becoming strategic growth tools
👉 Infrastructure—not apps—is where long-term value is being created
For banks, FinTechs, and HR platforms, the message is clear:
don’t build—plug in.
