Alviere

Market position

Alviere describes itself as a full-stack embedded finance provider combining proprietary technology with an extensive partner ecosystem, and at the time of its 2021 raise characterized the $70 million as the largest investment in the embedded finance sector to date. Its investor Viola Ventures cited live deployments with tier-one multi-billion-dollar brands as a differentiator. Contemporary coverage placed the company within a broader wave of embedded finance and banking-as-a-service funding, alongside companies such as Productfy, and cited third-party forecasts of a $7.2 trillion embedded finance market by 2030 and a $356 billion banking-as-a-service market in 2020.

Management distinguishes Alviere from banking-as-a-service vendors, arguing that BaaS sells technology to technically sophisticated buyers while Alviere targets mainstream brands with loyal customer bases but no existing financial technology capability, and that the brand rather than a partner bank owns the end customer relationship. Other stated differentiators are its status as a licensed, regulated financial institution assuming compliance and risk responsibilities, natively integrated third-party functionality that spares clients complex integrations and multiple vendor agreements, and hands-on product, implementation and go-to-market support.

Technology

A SaaS embedded finance platform, the Alviere HIVE, exposing financial capabilities through APIs and connecting to clients' existing ERP, CRM, order management and other systems. Proprietary technology is combined with integrated partners including Array, Atomic, Cognito, ComplyAdvantage, Hawk:AI, Mastercard, Melissa, Mitek, Moody's, Plaid, TabaPay and Visa; Hawk:AI powers AI-driven AML transaction monitoring and risk scoring. Offerings are wrapped in AI-based security and fraud protection, compliance and risk management, and regulatory licensing.

Go-to-market

Alviere sells directly to large enterprise accounts and partners with global systems integrators including KPMG, Deloitte and EY to implement client embedded finance initiatives, with internal specialists in financial products, implementation and go-to-market working alongside each client. In 2021 the company targeted Fortune 500 companies and had closed deals with two brands each serving more than 10 million household subscribers or customers.

Large global brands and enterprises seeking to modernize payments and enrich customer experiences, including airlines, retail, hospitality, telecommunications, marketplaces, and non-bank financial institutions, payroll and payment providers; end beneficiaries include those brands' customers, partners, employees, sellers and gig workers.

Geography

Head office listed in Denver, Colorado, with country offices in the United States, Ireland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Mexico; earlier coverage described the company as New York-based. Operational coverage spans the United States, Canada, Mexico, the UK and the EU, with licenses in all 50 US states, Canada and Puerto Rico, and marketplace payouts from the US to more than 120 countries. Planned expansion includes Europe.

History

The company dates its inception to 2017 and was described in 2021 as New York-based. It closed a $20 million Series A in April 2021 and added a $50 million follow-on Series B announced in October 2021, for $70 million of new funding and $90 million raised in total at that point, with proceeds directed at go-to-market expansion and entry into Europe and Latin America. Later company information lists a Denver, Colorado head office with additional offices in the United States, Ireland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Mexico.

Risks & controversies

The business model concentrates regulatory, compliance, fraud and risk-management obligations at Alviere as the licensed party, and revenue depends on the volume and success of individual client programs. In October 2021 disclosed enterprise traction rested on a small number of large accounts, and the Series B lead investors were not named.