Griffin raises $20 million for cards and stablecoin services
Griffin raises $20 million in a Series B led by Octagon Partners, valuing the UK bank above $100 million as it adds card issuing and stablecoin services.
Griffin raises $20 million for cards and stablecoin services, with Octagon Partners leading a Series B that values the UK bank above $100 million. Having tracked licence-holders such as ClearBank and bunq against electronic-money issuers, I read the round as Griffin adding debit cards and stablecoin reserves to a balance sheet its clients already use.
The round size matches a different architecture. Synctera raised $24.5 million as banks returned to banking-as-a-service (BaaS), with the charter at the bank and the software in front of it. Griffin is raising $20 million so firms already on its licence can add a card or a reserve account there. Griffin said on November 12, 2026 that Notion Capital, A+ Ventures, Nordic Ninja, Breega and other existing investors joined Octagon Partners in a round meant to carry the bank through to profitability and add card issuing and stablecoin services.
Since launching as a fully licensed UK bank two years ago, Griffin says it has grown from an initial cohort of five companies testing its systems to a clearing and embedded, or white-labelled, platform that now powers more than 80 companies, including Uber, Countingup, Anna Money, Yonder and Prosper. The platform serves more than 300,000 underlying retail and business customers and processes nearly 10 million payments a year. Recurring revenue grew 3.2 times year on year in the year ended September 2026, based on unaudited accounts that Griffin says remain subject to change once the statutory audit is complete.
The new capital is for cards and stablecoin services. Card issuing is meant to let customers launch branded retail and corporate debit cards through Griffin, with accounts, payments and cards on one infrastructure and a credit card offering to follow. Stablecoin work means reserve capabilities for businesses in that market and on-chain cross-border payments. Griffin says the additions extend it from core accounts, payments and compliance into a broader embedded finance stack for customers already on the platform.
Modulr already sells branded virtual and physical cards on the Mastercard and Visa networks, including Apple Pay and Google Pay. ClearBank, a UK bank that holds accounts for client firms, lists 4.9 million open bank accounts, £20 billion in deposits and 311-plus clients on its embedded banking page. Its embedded products include current accounts, savings and a flexible cash ISA, with eligible deposits protected up to £120,000 through the banking licence. ClearBank's Digital Asset Rails, for EU-regulated institutions, use the EURC stablecoin as a transport layer and settle fiat 24/7 through SEPA Instant, while clients keep wallets via Taurus and Circle Internet Financial Europe performs issuance and redemption.
Griffin's stablecoin job is reserve capability and on-chain cross-border payments under the UK licence its clients already use. That licence-owned pattern is the one Industry Spread described when bunq opened its Dutch banking licence as a BaaS platform across the European Union. Pliant has opened its licensed business-to-business card rails to outside agents, and Paymentology's $175 million round targets stablecoin and credit add-ons. The post names Uber, Countingup, Anna Money, Yonder and Prosper, and coverage since November 12 repeats those names and stops short of a commitment from any of them to a Griffin debit card or the reserve service.
David Jarvis, chief executive and co-founder at Griffin, said in the announcement: "Since launching as a bank two years ago, we’ve built the infrastructure that over 80 companies now rely on to bring banking products to their customers. This round lets us go further: cards and stablecoins are the natural next layer for our infrastructure, and the response from investors so far reflects the scale of the opportunity ahead of us. We’re delighted to have Octagon leading this round alongside our existing investors."
Paraag Davé from Octagon Partners said Griffin, from its launch in 2024, now powers more than 80 fintechs and platforms and will shortly clear "double digit £m in annual recurring revenue." He rested the case on dual oversight by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). "Griffin’s combination of proprietary technology and AI provides a scaffolding for embedded banking under a dual PRA/FCA regulatory regime that represents the sort of defensible moat that neither traditional fintechs nor traditional banks can compete with."
If firms already clearing on Griffin take a branded debit card on those accounts, the credit-card follow-on and the reserve service start with more than 80 companies and more than 300,000 end customers. If those firms keep specialist card rails and a European stablecoin transport layer, the $20 million funds the path to profitability while unaudited recurring revenue grows at 3.2 times and annual recurring revenue approaches double-digit millions of pounds. The round values the bank above $100 million, which holds if the card and the reserve account attach while that funding is still in the business.
Reporting by Rick Steves. Filed 15 November 2026, 07:57 GMT.
Senior Reporter, Regulation and Fintech
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011.
