Seattle fintech startup Switch has raised another $2 million as it continues to help merchants, card issuers, and consumers manage credit card information online.
Founded in 2013 by veteran entrepreneurs that pioneered “Internet-in-a-Box” technology back in the 90s, Switch has developed software that automatically updates card-on-file data across various online accounts when replacing a credit card.
“Switch is a win-win-win for card issuers, cardholders and merchants/billers,” said Switch CEO Chris Hopen. “Merchants and billers want — and some need (Netflix, Uber, etc.) — cards on file in order to operate and provide friction-free purchasing for customers. Top financial institutions gain valuable insight and higher transaction volume by helping their customers with the burden of managing payments online.”
Switch offers end-to-end encryption, two-factor authentication, and additional features as part of its security offerings.
Earlier this year, Switch launched CardSavr, its API that lets card issuers embed Switch’s card-updating technology into their banking application infrastructures and comes with voice-related features. It also recently added two finance veterans — former Mastercard executive Carol Cosby and former Macy’s exec Amy Hanson — to its board of directors.
The fresh cash comes mostly from existing angel investors. Total funding to date is more than $2.3 million.
Hopen founded Switch with former colleague David Pool. The founders previously worked together at Spry, a company that sold Internet connection software packages which allowed people to surf the web using a computer running Microsoft Windows. Spry sold to Compuserve for $100 million in 1995, the “largest acquisition yet in the Internet business” according to a New York Times article published at the time of the sale.
Pool was later CEO of a Bellevue-based enterprise content routing solution provider called DataChannel, a position he held from 1998 to 2002. During that time, Pool also started a venture capital firm called XMLfund that invested in XML-based web services. Pool left XMLFund in 2012.
Hopen left Spry in 1996 after the acquisition and eventually became the CTO at Aventail, a Seattle company that developed VPN technology. Aventail and DataChannel were business partners. Hopen later founded a Seattle-based file-sharing startup called TappIn, which sold to GlobeScape for as much as $17 million in 2011.
