Stockholm's Matters raises $5M pre-seed to build an AI-native consumer bank
Matters, a Stockholm startup building an AI-powered consumer bank, has emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Swedish angel investor Jakob Johansson. The company plans to charge a flat monthly fee for everyday banking alongside an AI adviser that helps customers spend more carefully and save more, while returning fees banks normally keep, such as card charges paid by shops and currency-exchange fees, to customers as cashback. Founder and CEO Per Österström, who started the company in April and earlier founded and sold Nordic loan broker Sambla, is joined by former Nordnet chief executive Lars-Åke Norling as chair; the money will go toward licence applications, EU expansion and growing its 14-person team, with a first consumer product promised in the coming weeks, though Matters has not said which licences it will seek or which countries it will enter first.
Matters is pitching a model where AI advice and cashback replace fees, built on Österström's argument that “banks earn more when consumers manage their money worse.”
Matters, a Stockholm startup building an AI-powered consumer bank, has raised $5m in pre-seed funding as it comes out of stealth. Swedish angel investor Jakob Johansson led the round.
Per Österström founded the company in April. He founded Sambla, a Nordic consumer loan broker, in 2014 and sold it to Nordic Capital in 2021.
Matters plans to charge customers a flat monthly fee for everyday banking, along with an AI adviser that helps them spend more carefully and save more. In addition, fees a bank would normally keep, such as card charges paid by shops and currency exchange fees, will go back to customers as cashback.
“Banks earn more when consumers manage their money worse,” said Österström, who is also chief executive.
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