According to GeekWire, Seattle fintech startup Upward just raised $8 million in funding and announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard. Founded in 2021 by former Remitly executives Aaron Gregory and Danielle Hill, the company provides infrastructure that lets businesses embed payments, cards, and banking products without managing separate integrations. The 20-person startup focuses on customers serving independent workers, creators, and small businesses, and they’re already processing more than $10 million in monthly payment volume. Current customers include Seattle companies TipHaus and Solo, plus Scout which uses Upward to manage payouts to college athletes. The funding round was co-led by Dundee Venture Capital and Breakwater Ventures, bringing Upward’s total funding to $12 million.
The embedded finance gold rush
Here’s the thing about embedded finance – everyone and their mother seems to be jumping into this space lately. Upward is chasing what BCG estimates is a $185 billion market opportunity, which explains why investors are throwing money at anything that smells like “banking-as-a-service.” But I’ve seen this movie before. Remember when every startup was building “the platform” for something? The landscape is getting crowded fast, and differentiation becomes everything.
The Remitly pedigree advantage
Now, Upward’s founders aren’t exactly newcomers to this game. Aaron Gregory was general counsel at Remitly and helped take them public, while Danielle Hill ran global operations. That’s serious fintech experience, and it probably helped them secure that Mastercard partnership. But here’s my question – does experience at a remittance company directly translate to building embedded finance infrastructure? Remitly mastered moving money across borders, which is valuable, but Upward’s platform is about building financial products from scratch. Different skill sets, honestly.
Where I’m skeptical
Look, rebuilding infrastructure “from scratch” sounds impressive, but it’s also incredibly risky and expensive. They claim to combine cards, payments, banking, and compliance into one system – that’s basically trying to boil the ocean. And targeting “underserved” segments like gig workers and creators? Those markets are notoriously difficult to monetize at scale. Everyone loves talking about serving the underserved until they realize why traditional players avoided those segments in the first place – thin margins and high operational costs.
The Mastercard play
The Mastercard partnership is genuinely smart though. Giving customers quick access to Mastercard-branded programs removes a huge barrier to entry. But partnerships like this often come with strings attached – revenue sharing, exclusivity clauses, or technical constraints. I’m curious how much flexibility Upward actually maintains versus becoming just another distribution channel for Mastercard. Still, if they can truly deliver on making financial product launches faster and simpler, they might just carve out a sustainable niche in this increasingly noisy market.
