Volt bets CFPB 1033 + PSD2 make pay-by-bank a card rival; $60M Series B, scaling

Volt is a London fintech that lets merchants accept real-time account-to-account payments: one API connects to open-banking rails at roughly 5,000 banks across the UK, Europe, Brazil and Australia, replacing card payment flows.

That regulators will keep forcing banks to open their rails, making account-to-account payments a real rival to card networks — one global network wins that business.

$60M Series B led by IVP (June 2023) after a $23.5M Series A (2021) and earlier seed; valuation just over $350M per TechCrunch.

Founded in London in October 2019 by Tom Greenwood, Steffen Vollert and Jordan Lawrence, Volt put its first merchants live in Nov 2020 and raised a $23.5M Series A in June 2021. The premise: open-banking APIs let merchants take payments directly from bank accounts, cutting the card fee chain and settling in real time.

In June 2023 Volt raised a $60M Series B led by IVP at a valuation just over $350M, with EQT Ventures, Augmentum and Fuel Ventures among backers; TechCrunch reported ~5,000 banks on the network, gross margins above 80% on Volt transactions, and partnerships with Shopify, Worldpay, Farfetch and eToro. It expanded into Brazil (2021) and Australia (Nov 2023), and secured licences in Poland (Aug 2023) and the UK (EMI licence, Feb 2024). As the CFPB finalized its Section 1033 personal financial data rights rule in Oct 2024 — the US's first open-banking mandate, with compliance phased from April 2026 — Volt pushed into the Americas and APAC, with Farfetch going live in Sep 2024.

Still operating and expanding: as of 2026 the company is live across the UK, EU, Brazil and Australia, signing new pay-by-bank partners (Mitrade July 2026, SysPay June 2026) and adding stablecoin-enabled remittance (Profee June 2026) as the US 1033 market phases in.

Open-banking mandates (PSD2, CFPB 1033) force banks to expose data and payment rails, creating the regulatory floor Volt's entire product assumes (CFPB press release; TechCrunch).

The economics beat cards: real-time settlement and 80%+ gross margins on transactions, versus the multi-party card fee chain (TechCrunch).

Partnerships with Shopify and Worldpay gave Volt distribution without winning every merchant one by one (TechCrunch).

The US 1033 rule is the scale-up moment: compliance starts April 2026 for the largest banks, exactly the market Volt's Americas push targets (CFPB; UKTN interview).

Regulation opens the door but merchants still need reasons to switch: Volt's edge is economics (80%+ gross margins, instant settlement) and incumbent partners like Worldpay, not the mandate itself.

As of 2026-09-02 Volt is still private and scaling: live in the UK, EU, Brazil and Australia, with recent pay-by-bank wins including Mitrade (July 2026), SysPay (June 2026) and a USDC-based remittance top-up with Profee (June 2026). Its US bet now hinges on 1033 phasing in from April 2026, turning America into the largest regulated open-banking market it serves. No IPO or exit has been announced; profitability is not public.