Adfin deploys decades of fintech experience to transform billing with $4.9m in seed funding

The European fintech ecosystem has excelled over the past two decades in transforming how we move money. Index has been at the heart of this through our investments, and now we’re doubling down on the next generation of fintech entrepreneurs. We’re excited to co-lead a round in Adfin, a fintech company led by co-founders Tom Pope and Ciprian Diaconasu who bring a unique blend of fintech experience and expertise to advance the state of the art in billing.

Co-investing with Visionaries, we are investing in Tom and Ciprian who have decades of experience in the European fintech ecosystem. Ciprian was founding engineer at banking-as-a-service platform Mambu, where he built and led the company's 200-strong developer team globally. The cloud banking platform supports the likes of N26, Tide and Western Union, and was valued at $5.3bn during its most recent funding round. Complementing Ciprian’s technical expertise is Tom’s commercial leadership in the payments space. Most recently, he built the payments business of open banking platform Tink which was acquired by Visa for $2.2bn in 2022. Following the takeover, Tink was integrated with more than 3,400 banks and financial institutions, reaching millions of bank customers across Europe. Both co-founders have a proven ability to execute in fintech at scale.

At Adfin, Tom and Ciprian have already assembled trusted engineering and commercial teams, staffed with operators who have spent on average over seven years working with each of the founders.

With their deep expertise in the space, combining commercial insights on payments with technical skills in building infrastructure, we believe Tom and Ciprian have a rare appreciation for the subtle pain points and sources of friction that cause people to postpone a payment.

They are scratching an itch on the shortcomings of open banking and the limitations of currently available billing platforms. While how we buy stuff online has been completely transformed, mainstream bill payments have for the most part been left in the 2010s – this is despite the average European making just 21 ecommerce purchases per year, versus more than 300 bill payments. As true infrastructure experts who have seen first-hand how no single tool can address this challenge today, Tom and Ciprian have built a flexible payment platform designed for the complex workflows required to get bills paid as soon as possible, including innovations like an AI-powered payments product which dynamically routes transactions between bank and card rails to maximise success at lower cost. Adfin will do whatever it takes to get as many bills paid as soon as possible; that means a more delightful experience for payers, and less burden for businesses chasing customers.

From the earliest stage, their vision has been clear and compelling. Adfin is building the best way for bills to get paid – for businesses and consumers. This is a team of fintech nerds that has what it takes to change how we bill for the better. We’re excited to partner with them and continue our tradition of supporting European fintech innovation.