NayaOne raises $4.7m to fund next phase of growth

UK-based fintech firm NayaOne has secured a $4.7 million investment in a funding round led by EJF Capital, with participation from Valley Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Valley National Bank, and Carthona Capital.

The funding will fuel the growth of NayaOne’s innovative sandbox-as-a-service platform, which is designed to accelerate technology adoption cycles in the finance sector.

NayaOne CEO Karan Jain

The platform is set to transform the financial services industry by enabling rapid navigation of the fintech landscape, fostering strategic partnerships that were once hindered by slow-moving processes.

With only 5% of banks choosing to develop technology in-house, the reliance on external fintech innovations is growing, making NayaOne’s platform particularly relevant in today’s digital transformation era.

Last year, US-based regional bank Valley National Bank launched an “innovation platform” powered by NayaOne to improve how it collaborates with fintechs.

Karan Jain, chief executive officer of NayaOne, called the funding round “a nod to the opportunity and magnitude of the challenge we’re tackling in financial services”.

He added: “It’s about more than just growth; it’s about setting the pace in a sector that’s fundamentally rethinking how it evolves.”

EJF Ventures partner Michael Cherepnin said: “We’re still in the early stage of a tech revolution in banking and capital markets, and NayaOne stands out as the critical infrastructure enabling the next big leap forward.”

The latest investment in NayaOne is the second round that Carthona Capital has participated in.

“Watching NayaOne’s journey from an early-stage hopeful to a fintech trailblazer has been nothing short of inspiring. This round is a launchpad for what’s next,” added Dean Dorrell, partner at Carthona Capital.

In the UK, NayaOne was awarded the Financial Conduct Authority’s tender to build and operate a permanent ‘Digital Sandbox’ service in April last year.

The sandbox supports businesses and start-ups in developing new proofs of concept for products and services.