Stockholm's Matters raises $5M pre-seed to build flat-fee AI bank that returns fees to customers
Stockholm’s Matters raises $5M pre-seed to build flat-fee AI bank that returns fees to customers #
Stockholm-based fintech startup Matters has raised $5 million in pre-seed funding to build a consumer bank that returns merchant interchange fees and foreign exchange margins to customers rather than keeping them.
The company was founded in April 2026 by Per Österström, who built Sambla Group into the Nordic region’s largest consumer loan broker before selling it to private equity firm Nordic Capital in early 2021. Matters is his second fintech venture. Österström has said he believes traditional banks profit when customers make poor spending decisions, a dynamic the company aims to reverse.
Under the Matters model, customers pay a fixed monthly subscription fee for neobank services, including an AI advisor intended to help users spend more deliberately and save toward personal goals. Interchange fees and foreign exchange margins, which banks typically retain, would instead be accumulated and returned to users as cashback.
The round was led by Swedish angel investor Jakob Johansson and included Knut Frängsmyr, former chief operating officer at Klarna; Douglas Stark, co-founder of micro-mobility firm Voi; Johan Bladh, CEO of investment firm Röko; Patrik Tran, CEO of data quality startup Validio; and Per Widerström, CEO of gaming company Evoke.
Matters has appointed Lars-Åke Norling, former chief executive of pan-European savings and investment platform Nordnet, as board chair. During Norling’s tenure at Nordnet, the company’s market capitalisation grew roughly tenfold to SEK 80 billion.
The funding will go toward regulatory licensing, EU expansion, growing the current 14-person team, and user acquisition. Matters has not ruled out acquisitions. The company said its first consumer product is expected to launch within weeks but has not disclosed which markets it will enter first or which licences it intends to seek. Once licensed, it will compete with established neobanks including Revolut.
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