Auka (company)

Auka is a Norwegian, VC-backed financial technology company. Its PSD2 compliant technology platform enables banks to issue white label mobile payments products to their private and merchant customers.

Based in Oslo, the company currently employs 26[1] people under CEO Daniel Döderlein.

## History

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Founded in 2010, Auka was originally called mCASH and was the first mobile payments platform to launch in Norway.[2] Since then, Norway and the Nordics have seen some of the highest rates of mobile payment adoption according to data from Visa.[3] It received $6.87m in Series A funding round led by Northzone Ventures[4] \- which has also invested in Spotify, Klarna and iZettle[5] \- and including Entree Capital, an investor in Deliveroo.

In 2016, Auka was named as the fastest-growing fintech company by Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA[6][7][8] and was cited as one of the 16 hottest Nordic fintech startups by Business Insider.[9] It was named European Mobile Payments Platform of the Year 2017[10] by CFI magazine, and was included in the European Fintech Awards Top 100 for 2017.[11]

In February 2014, the company launched its mobile payment platform in the Norwegian market also under the name mCASH. In October 2015, Sparebank1 bought the Norwegian mCASH service,[12] retaining the name, while the company originally known as mCASH rebranded as Auka.[13] In early 2017, the mCASH mobile payment service was integrated into Vipps, a payment platform developed by DNB ASA.[14][15]

After rebranding, Auka expanded its focus to include PSD2-compliant solutions, such as API-hosting, for banks in addition to mobile payment services, as well as launching its services in the wider European market.

## Technology

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Auka's white-label products are designed to support banks' customer acquisition and revenue generation efforts,[16] and delivered using the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. Auka was the first licensed financial services company to run entirely in the Google Cloud Platform[17][18][19]

Auka's FSA-compliant core platform provides an API catalogue for banks needing to meet PSD2 regulations. These regulations, which must be enshrined in law by all EU member states by 13 January 2018,[20] require financial institutions operating in these markets to expose compliant, open APIs. However, it is likely that there will be a grace period granted to banks in EU member states before they have to comply, while PSD2’s RTS (regulatory technical standards) on Strong Customer Authentication and common and secure communication[21] are finalised.

Auka’s mobile payments platform has been integrated by 17 Scandinavian banks.[22] Auka specialises in mobile payment services that allow users to pay with their smartphone using their preferred source of funding in any payment scenario, agnostic to either the mobile network operator or operating system. Its Peer-to-Peer (P2P) mobile payments platform can be configured to allow individuals to make fast, personal payments using a number of different identifiers including mobile phone numbers, bank account numbers, card numbers or social media profiles. Auka’s Peer-to-Merchant (P2M) mobile payments platform enables retailers and SMEs to offer customers the option to pay for goods using their mobile phone.

## References

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1. ^ AS, Purehelp.no. "Auka AS - 995073064 - Firmapresentasjon". www.purehelp.no. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
2. ^ "Norway embracing NFC, BLE and QR payments? | Mobile Transaction". www.mobiletransaction.org. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
3. ^ "Visa Europe Digital Payments report, 2016" (PDF).
4. ^ "Norway's mCASH raises €5.15 Million Series A - ArcticStartup". ArcticStartup. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
5. ^ "Investment Archive - Northzone". Northzone. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
6. ^ "Technology Fast 500™ EMEA Winners | Deloitte Global | Technology, Media and Telecommunication". Deloitte. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
7. ^ "DELOITTE FAST 500 EMEA NAMES AUKA FASTEST GROWING FINTECH – Global Banking And Finance Review Magazine – Financial & Business Insights". www.globalbankingandfinance.com. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
8. ^ "Deloitte Fast 500 EMEA names Auka Fastest Growing Fintech". Fintech Finance. 2016-12-09. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
9. ^ "The 16 hottest Nordic fintech startups". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
10. ^ "CFI magazine, Summer 2017 issue".
11. ^ "Nominees - European FinTech 100 & Top 3 - Fintech Europe". europe2017.fintech.nl. Archived from the original on 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
12. ^ "SpareBank 1 acquires Norwegian assets of mCash » PaymentEye". Retrieved 2017-09-04.
13. ^ "mCASH Pivots to AUKA, Launches Mobile Payments Services Across Europe - Finovate". Finovate. 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
14. ^ "Norwegian banks join DNB to make Vipps the 'single mobile wallet' for customers • NFC World". NFC World. 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
15. ^ "DNB Reinvents Vipps Mobile Payment Service | Payment Week". Payment Week. 2017-02-13. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
16. ^ "Startups can bring banks new tech faster: CEO". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
17. ^ Kamps, Haje Jan. "Auka brings Google Cloud-powered banking to Europe | TechCrunch". Retrieved 2017-09-04.
18. ^ "Auka | Google Cloud Platform". Google Cloud Platform. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
19. ^ Bown, Jessica (2016-04-26). "Fast cash: The high-speed world of cloud-based finance". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
20. ^ "The Second Payments Services Directive (PSD2), Payments UK" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-11-12.
21. ^ "Final Report on Draft Regulatory Technical Standards on Strong Customer Authentication and common and secure communication under Article 98 of Directive 2015/2366 (PSD2), European Banking Authority" (PDF).
22. ^ Finextra (2016-04-04). "Money2020: Nordic mobile payments outfit Auka launches across Europe". Finextra Research. Retrieved 2017-09-04.