Startup founders across Europe are still running into the same financial roadblocks: slow account approvals, fragmented tools, and hours lost to manual admin. Dublin-based fintech Seapoint has raised a $3 million pre-seed round to tackle these problems head-on, launching a platform it calls the “financial home” for startups.

Founders Caught Between Legacy Banks and Neobanks

Seapoint’s founder Sean Mullaney, a former Stripe executive, points to a growing gap in startup financial services. Traditional banks often view young, pre-revenue companies as risky. Neobanks, designed for the masses, offer automated accounts but little support. Founders report waiting months for basic banking access or dealing with robotic support teams.

This forces startups to patch together a messy stack of tools. Mullaney found that most juggle 4–6 providers just to manage money. Founders waste hours on payroll, invoice approvals, and tax prep. Some even forget to pay staff or rely on spreadsheets for visibility. For early-stage teams, this “financial overhead” is costly and distracting.

A Platform Designed for Founders

Seapoint aims to eliminate that burden. Its product combines multi-currency accounts, corporate cards, international payments, and treasury tools in one interface. It connects to founders’ existing banks, accounting platforms, CRMs, and even Gmail to deliver a real-time financial overview.

Routine tasks are automated. Gmail invoices become one-click payments. Payroll runs in bulk. VAT and expense categorisation happen in the background. What used to take hours is handled in minutes.

Crucially, Seapoint offers real human support. Each customer gets a dedicated relationship manager who understands startup structures, venture capital, and scaling. Not a chatbot – a person who knows your business.

Backed by Leading Fintech Angels

The $3 million round was led by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Tapestry VC, Andrena Ventures, Angel Invest, Nomad Capital, and fintech angels like Claire Hughes Johnson (ex-Stripe), Laurence Krieger (ex-Revolut, Tide), and Colm Long (ex-Tines).

The team includes engineers and operators from Stripe and Tide, many of whom have been founders themselves. Seapoint is currently in private beta with early-stage companies in the UK and Europe. A public launch is expected later this year.

Longer term, the company plans to expand into serving mid-sized tech firms that have outgrown neobanks but still find traditional banking rigid and inefficient.

Key takeaways for fintech startups

Here’s what other founders can learn from Seapoint’s approach:

• Start with a sharp use case: Seapoint focuses tightly on venture-backed startups, avoiding the bloat of one-size-fits-all banking.
  
  
• Integrate before you replace: Instead of requiring startups to abandon tools, Seapoint integrates with Gmail, CRMs, and accounting platforms.
  
  
• Automate the boring stuff, not the relationship: The product handles repetitive tasks but still offers high-touch support.
  
  
• Founders are users, not buyers: Targeting them means building for usability, not just compliance.
  
  
• Fixing infrastructure is back in vogue: Fintechs solving operational pain points are seeing renewed investor interest.

If your fintech startup is tackling a real pain point and wants help shaping the story, Your Fintech Story is here to support you. Let’s talk.