BKN301 secures £29m to embed AI into modular banking across EMEA
This article covers BKN301, a fintech startup, which has extended its Series B with €33m in fresh financing and completed the acquisition of Planky, a UK AI startup. The moves aim to embed AI into BKN301’s modular digital banking architecture, accelerate product development and support rollout to banks, startups and corporates across EMEA.
BKN301 has extended its Series B and completed the acquisition of Planky, a UK technology firm, as it pushes to embed AI into its modular digital banking architecture across EMEA. The moves are aimed at speeding product development, supporting new commercial pushes in regional markets and kickstarting a planned M&A programme that targets further platform enrichment.
Why it matters
BKN301 positions itself as a provider of fintech infrastructure that helps banks, startups and corporates modernise legacy systems without wholesale replacement. Integrating a UK AI specialist and securing fresh financing are both practical steps toward two industry priorities: making core banking systems more data‑driven and shortening time to market for digital financial services.
For incumbent banks and newer fintechs alike, an architecture that standardises data and layers AI on top can reduce engineering effort, improve compliance signals and enable more personalised customer journeys. That matters across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where fragmented legacy technology and differing regulatory regimes make platform approaches attractive for firms seeking scale and regional reach.
Inside the product
Planky brings machine learning models and an analytics engine focused on real‑time financial insights, behavioural scoring, predictive analytics and open banking connectivity. BKN301 says it will integrate those capabilities into its existing stack to boost automation and intelligence.
BKN301’s platform is built around three core components:
- API Orchestrator: connects core banking, payments, open banking and AI services.
- Data Decoupling Layer: standardises data to improve resilience and create an AI‑ready foundation.
- Business Logic Engine: hosts configurable rules and workflows to speed product launches.
The Planky acquisition is intended to sit inside that stack, enhancing the data and analytics layer so clients can deploy features such as predictive risk scoring, cashflow forecasting and real‑time customer signals without rebuilding core systems.
### Who's backing the round
Who are the investors?
BKN301 said it has extended its Series B and arranged a credit facility from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. Combined with the existing Series B, the company says the total amount raised is £29 million (€33 million).
The announcement frames the financing as enabling platform roll‑out across EMEA, accelerating AI development and supporting an active M&A pipeline. No further investor participants or valuation details were disclosed in the release.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Stiven Muccioli, Founder & CEO of BKN301, said:
With the growth financing and Planky’s AI capabilities, we’re accelerating toward our vision of a next-generation fintech infrastructure — one that’s intelligent, open, and designed to empower financial inclusion at scale across emerging markets.
In the announcement, Stiven Muccioli, Founder & CEO of BKN301, added:
We’re building the rails for the next wave of financial innovation, AI is transforming how financial services operate, and BKN301 is at the forefront — combining intelligence, scalability, and regulatory readiness to help our clients innovate faster.
The bigger picture
The deal reflects continued interest from fintech investors in infrastructure plays that combine cloud‑native architectures with data and AI tooling. Across the UK and Europe, regulatory initiatives such as open banking and evolving AI guidance are nudging banks and payment firms toward modular, interoperable systems that can absorb new services quickly.
BKN301’s offices across London, Milan, San Marino and Doha and its stated EMEA focus underline a familiar growth path for fintech infrastructure vendors: productise core integration work, add analytics and automation, then scale by selling to regional banks and fintechs that lack in‑house engineering depth.
This transaction is one of several recent moves in Europe where startups and established vendors are buying AI and analytics teams to fast‑track product capabilities rather than build them from scratch — a pattern likely to continue as firms pursue faster rollout and tighter data control across multiple regulatory regimes.
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