Thought Machine closes $200 million round, now at unicorn valuation

London’s fintech Thought Machine has announced the close of a $200 million Series C round, now giving the company a valuation of over $1 billion. The copy focuses on building software solutions that help banks and financial institutions transition away from legacy IT systems and join the 21st century. The funding is intended to continue the development of its core offer, ‘Vault’, and its ‘Universal Product Engine’, as well as accelerate and strengthen international expansion efforts. Including this raise, Thought Machine has garnered $348.6 million.

Founded in 2014 by former Google engineer Paul Taylor, Thought Machine provides modern, cloud-native core banking technology to some of the largest financial institutions around the world including investors and clients, Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, SEB.

On the new investment, Taylor commented, “We are delighted to have earned the support of our new and existing investors as we continue to move the world’s leading banks into the cloud. We set out to eradicate legacy technology from the industry and ensure that all banks deployed on Vault can succeed and deliver on their ambitions. These new funds will accelerate the delivery of Vault into banks around the world who wish to implement their future vision of financial services.”

Thought Machine’s $200 million Series C round was led by Nyca Partners, with participation from ING Ventures, JPMorgan Chase, and Standard Chartered Ventures. Existing investors Lloyds Banking Group, British Patient Capital, Eurazeo, SEB, Molten Ventures, Backed, and IQ Capital all followed on.

“Thought Machine is the leading technology among the new generation of cloud-native core platforms, and as a result, it has become the top choice for tier one banks looking to upgrade their core architecture. These institutions tell us that Thought Machine’s engineering approach is unrivalled; Vault is highly configurable, flexible, scalable, and specifically designed for the complex environment and requirements of tier one banks. Investing in Thought Machine is an investment in the future of banking and we are very energized to be working with them as they build a new standard for core banking technology,” concluded Nyca Partners’ Hans Morris.