A financial technology joint-venture of Live Oak Bank and Atlanta-based First Data announced Tuesday that it has completed a $20 million fundraising round.

Officials of Wilmington-based Apiture, whose platforms support financial institutions’ digital banking services, said the new capital will “accelerate development of transformative digital banking technologies.”

The investments come from funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. and Nashville-based Pinnacle Bank, according to Apiture CEO Chris Babcock.

Officials at Live Oak greeted the news warmly.

"Live Oak and Apiture are fortunate to have been joined by partners that share our vision for Apiture and our enthusiasm for changing banking technology infrastructure," Live Oak Senior Vice President for Corporate Development and Strategy Stephanie Mann said in an email Tuesday afternoon. "The new capital from Pinnacle Bank and T. Rowe Price funds will support their continued innovation and growth. Apiture is poised to challenge the status quo with their API-first, cloud-native digital banking solution."

As part of the transaction, Hugh Queener, a co-founder and chief administrative officer at Pinnacle Bank, a long-standing Apiture customer, will join the Apiture board of directors, the news release stated.

“This is an important investment for Pinnacle and an opportunity for us to help contribute to the future of digital banking technology,” Queener said in the release. “I am looking forward to joining the board to help enable continued growth at Apiture.”

Apiture’s two platforms, Apiture Xpress and Apiture Open, will both benefit from innovation that results from the new capital, Babcock said on Tuesday. The company’s smaller and longer-term customers are the primary users of Apiture Xpress.

“We’re focusing on continuing and accelerating our product innovation, getting products to market faster for our clients,” Babcock said.

The company serves several hundred banks and credit unions.
 
“The Xpress platform was a legacy platform that has been running for years, serving a certain client base,” he continued. “The money will be used to support and expand that platform, as well as Apiture Open, which is the newer technology solution we’ve been building from the ground up, in conjunction with Live Oak Bank.”

Apiture Open is designed primarily for digital-only banks and larger banks.

“We are committed to both platforms,” Babcock said.

The current $20 million capital raise is the second for Apiture. An earlier investment came from SunTrust Bank, which recently merged with BB&T to form Truist Bank.

Founded in Wilmington in October 2017, Apiture has grown steadily since its beginnings. It now employs about 250 people, most of whom work at its headquarters on the Live Oak Bank campus, but some at the firm’s Austin, Texas offices. Apiture also has a few employees who work remotely from other parts of the country.

The fintech company's announcement comes on the heels of news from nCino, a Live Oak Bank spinoff that is pursuing an initial public offering on Nasdaq. Tuesday, it disclosed the number of shares it will offer for sale and a per-share price range.

This version of the story adds a comment from a Live Oak Bank officer.