Vitesse, a treasury and payment solutions provider for the insurance industry, has raised 拢73 million in Series C funding.
Founded in 2014 by payment industry entrepreneurs Phillip McGriskin and Paul Townsend, Vitesse enables real-time management and capital safeguarding for stakeholders across the value chain, replacing time-consuming manual processing of claims payments and reconciliations.聽
Through its integrated global payments network, Vitesse says it enables claims administrators and delegated authorities to deliver the best customer experience in claims payments.
The round was led by global investment firm KKR with participation from existing investors including Hannover Digital Investments. Patrick Devine, managing director in KKR鈥檚 tech growth team, will join the company鈥檚 board of directors.
With 177 employees, Vitesse is headquartered in London and serves customers across Europe. It is expanding in the US. Vitesse has also announced the appointment of Curt Hess – most recently COO and CFO at 10x Banking – as executive president in the US to oversee the company’s continued expansion in that market.聽
Hess spent over a decade with Barclays, where he held a number of positions, most recently as CEO of Barclays US Consumer Bank.
鈥淭his latest funding is a strong testament to the confidence our investors have in our mission to revolutionise payment and treasury management in the global insurance market,鈥� said CEO McGriskin.聽
鈥淲e are thrilled to be working with KKR as we embark on this next phase of growth and to capitalise on their team鈥檚 strong industry expertise.聽
鈥淎s we continue to grow our presence in the US, I鈥檓 particularly excited about Curt joining the Vitesse family, who brings significant knowledge and expertise to support us on this dynamic growth journey.鈥�
KKR is making the investment in Vitesse primarily through its Next Generation Technology Growth Fund III, a fund dedicated to growth equity investment opportunities in the technology space.
Devine added: 鈥淭he global insurance industry is a key strategic focus for KKR, and we see a real market opportunity for Vitesse to disrupt and add significant value to the industry. We are excited to partner with this proven management team to support Vitesse鈥檚 ambition of providing global insurers with unparalleled control, transparency, and efficiency for the holding and management of funds.鈥�
KKR has established a proven track record of supporting technology-focused growth companies, having invested over $21.6 billion in related investments since 2014 and built a dedicated global team of more than 35 investment professionals with deep technology growth equity expertise.聽
The firm has executed 40 transactions as part of its tech growth strategy, including DarkTrace, KnowBe4, o9 Solutions, Onestream, OutSystems, NetSPI and ReliaQuest.