Welsh financial technology startup Burbank has secured £5 million in seed funding to transform e-commerce payments through its innovative Card Present over Internet (CPoI) solution. The investment round was led by Mouro Capital, with participation from Anthemis (supported by Foxe Capital) and Portfolio Ventures.
Burbank’s groundbreaking technology enables online shoppers to complete transactions by simply tapping their payment card against their mobile device and entering their PIN – mirroring the familiar and secure process used for in-store purchases. This approach represents a significant departure from traditional card-not-present payment methods, which the company argues are plagued by high fraud rates, excessive chargebacks, and false positives that unnecessarily decline legitimate transactions.
The startup claims its CPoI system offers multiple advantages: it eliminates the need to store payment details online, reduces friction in the checkout process, and enhances security by bringing physical card authentication to digital transactions. Industry data suggests false positives alone cost merchants $443 billion annually, with 65% of declined transactions being legitimate purchases and 41% of affected customers never returning to the retailer.
Justin Pike, CEO of Burbank, emphasized the significance of this innovation: “In-store we pay by tap and PIN, which is globally trusted and familiar, and now, for the first time ever, we’re enabling the same process in online channels. Simple, secure, and scalable. The way it should be.” Pike, a serial fintech entrepreneur and former founder of payments companies eNett, MyHSM, and MYPINPAD, brings considerable industry experience to this venture.
The fresh capital will enable Burbank to further develop its technology and expand its market presence. The solution is particularly timely given the growing global e-commerce market and increasing regulatory focus on payment security standards. By bridging the gap between physical and digital payment security, Burbank aims to establish a new standard for online transactions that could significantly reduce the estimated $40 billion lost annually to online payment fraud.