Definition
Bridge is a French fintech that provides bank account aggregation (AISP) and payment initiation (PISP) APIs to hundreds of companies in France and Europe.
It is the B2B brand of the payment institution Perspecteev SAS, originally the publisher of the consumer app Bankin'. In 2022 the entity split: Bankin' (B2C) was taken over by the Casino group, while Bridge (B2B) brought Groupe BPCE and Truffle Capital onto its cap table through a €20M round. Today it ranks among the major French Open Banking players, alongside Powens, Fintecture, Tink and TrueLayer.
History and key events
- 2011 — Bankin' founded by Joan Burkovic and Robin Dauzon, a consumer aggregation app.
- 2015–2017 — development of the B2B business under the Bridge brand (aggregation APIs, then initiation).
- Perspecteev SAS is registered with the ACPR as a payment institution (AIS + PIS).
- 2022 — B2C/B2B split: Casino takes over Bankin', BPCE and Truffle Capital take a stake in Bridge (a €20M Series A).
- 2023–2025 — European expansion and rollout of payment use cases (Pay by Bank).
- 2025 — mandatory rollout of VoP (IPR, 9 October 2025) for all euro-area PSPs.
Offering
- Aggregation (AIS): a REST API for accounts, balances and transactions, with European coverage focused on France, webhooks, categorisation and enrichment, and automated consent-renewal handling.
- Payment initiation (PIS): SCT and SCT Inst transfers from the payer's account after SCA, for Pay by Bank, wallet top-up, refunds or B2B, with anti-fraud controls (amount, IBAN, scoring).
- Verification of Payee (VoP): an integrated service, in the wake of the IPR.
- Open Finance: preparation for the FIDA extension (savings, insurance, credit, retirement), pending the regulatory timetable.
Business model
A SaaS subscription plus pricing per API call or per connected user, varying with volume. A 100% B2B model: no consumer service since Bankin' left in 2022.
Clients (illustrative)
- BNPL / credit: AIS for cash flow underwriting at onboarding.
- Accounting SaaS (Pennylane, Sage, Cegid): syncing journal entries.
- Business neobanks: multi-bank aggregation for their micro-business and SME clients.
- B2B factoring (Defacto, Karmen).
Bridge vs competitors
| Player | Origin | Focus | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridge (FR) | B2B spin-off of Bankin' (Perspecteev) | AIS + PIS | Strong FR, broad EU |
| Powens (FR, ex-Budget Insight) | Independent, acquired by PSG Equity | AIS + PIS, scoring | Strong FR, EU + Spain (Unnax) |
| Fintecture (FR) | Pure-play PIS | PIS mostly | Strong FR, gradual EU |
| Tink (SE) | Stockholm 2012, acquired by Visa 2022 | AIS + PIS | Very strong EU + UK |
| TrueLayer (UK) | London 2016 | PIS dominant | Very strong UK, EU |
| Yapily (UK) | London 2017 | API-first AIS + PIS | EU + UK |
What Bridge is not
- Not a bank: registered as an AISP + PISP with the ACPR (the payment institution Perspecteev SAS), neither an EMI nor a credit institution.
- Not a consumer player: Bankin' was sold to Casino in 2022; Bridge is 100% B2B.
- Not a wallet: it offers no payment account to the end user.
- Not a card-acquiring PSP: no membership of the card networks — it is a transfer-based PISP.
- Not Powens: Powens (formerly Budget Insight, 2012) is a separate, competing company.
In the PSD2 / Open Finance ecosystem
Bridge is a central player in French Open Banking:
- PSD2: AIS + PIS.
- PSD3 / PSR: upcoming adaptations (VoP, APP fraud, longer consents).
- FIDA: preparation for savings, insurance and retirement if the regulation is confirmed.
- IPR: free SCT Inst and VoP since 9 October 2025 in the euro area.
Real-world examples
- E-commerce Pay by Bank: payment initiation as an alternative to card on high-value baskets (real estate, automotive, construction), where the absence of chargeback and the immediate finality of SCT Inst appeal to the merchant.
- Cash flow underwriting: Bridge's AIS feeds scoring engines (Algoan, etc.) or lenders' and BNPL platforms' in-house models.
- Automated accounting: multi-bank aggregation for accounting SaaS (invoice-to-entry reconciliation).
- VoP: a service deployed in the wake of the IPR (October 2025) for clients doing initiation.
- Competition: on PIS in France, TrueLayer claimed more than 65% of Open Banking payments at the end of 2024 — a position contested by local players. The market remains nascent.