DES MOINES—Dwolla is one step closer to helping people across the country move money a bit faster.
The Des Moines-based company announced Thursday a partnership with BBVA Compass, one of the largest banks in the country will allow the bank’s users to leverage Dwolla’s network to move money in real time starting early next year.
“The future of banking is going to be driven by customer demand and there is a lot of the digital disruption happening out there with companies like Dwolla that are innovative from a payments perspective,” BBVA Compass Director of Business Innovation Dave Kucera told SPN. “What we’re focusing on is how we can deliver increased value through a partnership with Dwolla for realtime payments and realtime transfers.
“It’s one of the key areas that is needed in financial services industry and Dwolla delivers.”
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By harnessing Dwolla’s FiSync API, banks and credit unions can access the company’s existing network and allow their account holders to send and receive money in real time. BBVA Compass is the largest—and first customer-facing bank—to integrate with Dwolla. Previously Dwolla’s network was utilized by Veridian Credit Union in Des Moines, which Dwolla founder Ben Milne says was great proof of concept for the integration’s potential.
“I think the common theme here is getting as close to realtime as humanly possible in everything we do,” Milne told SPN.
And Dwolla is getting pretty close—you can even see for yourself with this demo that tracks round-trip transaction time on the network.
The partnership will allow businesses banking with BBVA Compass to harness Dwolla’s network to save money and do things like pay employees in real time.
“One of the opportunities we see is with all the digital disruption transforming the way we do business and the incredibly creative startup community around financial technology,” Kucera said.
“The approach we take is exactly why we engaged with Dwolla instead of identifying the disruptor as a competitor, what we want to do is collaborate with them and help transform the industry for the 21st century.”
This announcement comes on the heels of the news that Dwolla had raised $9.7 million in funding led by strategic investor CME Group about a month ago. According to TechCrunch, “the investment is significant because it opens the door wider for Dwolla’s enterprise activity, and the idea of using its platform as the backend for transactions elsewhere—for example in CME’s own exchanges.”
Dwolla’s previous investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Village Ventures, also participated in the round. To date, Dwolla has raised $32.5 million.
In May, the company announced the latest iteration of its Next Day Transfers feature, which allows groups like small businesses, credit unions and nonprofits to move money over Dwolla’s network in just one business day. And in June, its team launched Dwolla Direct, which will allow users to send money over Dwolla’s network without fully registering for an account.
