Spade, a cutting-edge provider of real-time merchant intelligence for the card ecosystem, has successfully closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Flourish Ventures, with participation from a16z, Gradient Ventures, Y Combinator, Dash Fund, and Everywhere Ventures (The Fund).
The latest investment takes Spade’s total funding to date to $10 million and will be employed to expand the company’s team across the U.S., Canada, and Germany, as well as to enhance the development of its AI-driven card authorization solutions.
Traditional credit card transaction processing lacks modernization, with infrastructure largely unchanged since the 1960s. Spade addresses this issue by delivering rapid and precise real-time merchant intelligence, enabling card issuers to make critical authorization decisions based on accurate data. The company’s proprietary ground truth database covers nearly 100% of merchants across the U.S., ensuring comprehensive, detailed, and consistent information is available for each transaction. Spade has achieved a processing speed of under 50 milliseconds (p99) to power authorization flows effectively.
Card issuers currently face challenges in making authorization decisions due to the lack of quality merchant data, resulting in false declines and significant revenue losses. Spade’s innovative approach solves this problem by offering verified merchant identities in real-time, providing granular details such as merchant profiles, categories, and geolocation information. This comprehensive data helps prevent false positives and negative customer experiences, reducing dispute costs and credit card fraud.
Oban MacTavish, CEO, and Co-founder of Spade, emphasized the company’s commitment to transforming card authorization processes. He stated, “Spade allows builders to create the future of finance at all card issuers, whether a neobank, traditional financial institution, fintech, or a corporate or P-card provider, to make the most informed and accurate transaction decisions.”
The funds raised in this round will be utilized to support Spade’s ongoing development of merchant intelligence products, facilitate international expansion beyond the U.S., and grow the team. Spade has achieved SOC 2 Type 2 certification and maintains a strong focus on delivering enterprise-grade security and bank-level data encryption. The company’s solutions have garnered significant traction, with notable customers including Mercury, Sardine, Ramp, and Unit, contributing to a more secure, convenient, and innovative global card ecosystem.
