A consortium of existing and new investors, led by CDP Venture Capital, has put EUR 23 millioninto TrueLayer, the UK-based Pay by Bank network. The lead investor is an Italian asset manager within the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti group, owned 70% by CDP Equity and 30% by Invitalia, and it manages 15 funds with more than EUR 4.9 billion in resources. For TrueLayer, set up in 2016 by Italian founders Francesco Simoneschi and Luca Martinetti, the deal brings domestic backing from the country where a large share of its staff now works.
Roughly 70 people, about a quarter of the company's employees, are based in Italy, making it one of TrueLayer's main bases outside the UK. Its Milan office operates as a core engineering site, and recruitment there is expected to continue through 2027. In a statement, Simoneschi, who is also CEO, described the investment as personally meaningful for the business and its engineers, linking it to the founders' original aim of building payment infrastructure in Europe for European users.
Investors weigh Europe's reliance on US card networks
Pay by Bank lets shoppers settle purchases directly from their bank accounts in real time over European Open Banking infrastructure, without relying on US card schemes. This gives merchants an account-to-account alternative to card acceptance. TrueLayer is live in 22 countries, counts Ryanair and Just Eat among its clients, and says more than 30 million European consumers use its network. Its products pair instant bank transfers with financial and identity data, enabling businesses to onboard users, collect funds, and issue payouts.
CDP Venture Capital targets regional payment infrastructure
For CDP Venture Capital, the deal reflects a view that Europe benefits from developing its own economic infrastructure and payment ecosystems, as policymakers and industry participants across the continent work to strengthen strategic autonomy in payments. Mario Branciforti, Head of the Large Venture fund at CDP Venture Capital, argued that the region needs payment systems it owns and controls, and said the fund is investing across Europe to help build them. He pointed to TrueLayer as an example already operating at scale, adding that supporting Italian talent is central to the fund's role and that the company's local engineers are developing technology to keep Italy at the centre of European payments.
