Finperks secures $4 million to establish itself as the API layer for prepaid payments.

      The Berlin startup established by the founders of viafintech is developing a single integration that enables banks, fintechs, and HR platforms to provide gift cards, cashback, and tax-free employee benefits without engaging directly with the underlying infrastructure.

      The creators of viafintech, the prepaid payments company that was bought by Paysafe in 2021, have launched a new venture, focusing on the supply side of the market instead of working within it.

      Finperks, the Berlin-based startup they founded after leaving Paysafe, has secured $4 million in pre-seed funding. This funding round was led by Motive Partners, a firm specializing in fintech investments, along with seed+speed Ventures, a Berlin-based B2B software investment fund that recently raised €90 million in its third fund.

      The company is establishing API infrastructure that facilitates banks, fintech firms, and HR platforms to offer prepaid products, gift cards, eCash, and cashback through a single integration, eliminating the need for each partner to create a network of issuers, brand associations, settlement providers, and compliance layers independently.

      The challenge Finperks addresses is systemic. The prepaid market is extensive and expanding but operationally fragmented. A bank intending to provide brand-funded cashback to retain customers, or an HR platform looking to distribute Germany's €50 monthly tax-free employee benefit known as the Sachbezug, must currently manage multiple providers spanning various functionalities.

      Finperks consolidates this into a single API, granting partners access to over 1,000 brands across Europe.

      “Banks need cashback to retain and engage users,” stated co-founder and co-CEO Sebastian Seifert. “HR platforms require benefits as a logical upsell to their clients. None want to establish prepaid infrastructure; they prefer to integrate it.”

      Sebastian Seifert is no stranger to the field. He co-founded viafintech, the barcode-based eCash platform recognized in Germany and Austria as Barzahlen/viacash, at the age of 20. By the time Paysafe acquired it in November 2021 for over $100 million, viafintech had expanded to more than 100 employees operating in 17 markets across Europe and the US.

      Seifert was also included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for DACH in 2019 and in Europe Finance in 2020. Founded in the summer of 2025 and situated in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Finperks marks his next endeavor, built with the same core team.

      After six months, the company reports onboarding over 1,000 brands and signing its first customers. The payment app Flizpay utilizes Finperks to provide brand-funded cashback deposited directly into users' bank accounts at the point of purchase, a product in which Seifert previously served as an angel investor.

      HR platforms Recardy and Paylo leverage Finperks to distribute the Sachbezug without establishing additional infrastructure. The new funding will be allocated to expanding the engineering team, strengthening brand partnerships, and entering other European markets.

      For Motive Partners, the focus is on the infrastructure layer. The firm, which exclusively invests in technology-enabled financial services businesses, has been consistently growing its early-stage portfolio alongside its broader growth and buyout activities.

      In contrast, seed+speed Ventures' third fund is specifically aimed at European B2B and enterprise software companies developing AI or offering tools to implement it in corporate operations, and Finperks aligns well with its thesis on enterprise workflow infrastructure.

      Finperks consists of a team of eight people. The company’s job postings highlight a founding team of serial entrepreneurs and fintech experts with a “proven track record,” expanding from the viafintech model into a market that the founders are well-acquainted with from both product and distribution perspectives.