Shieldpay is a technology company.
Shieldpay has raised $6.0M across 1 funding round.
Shieldpay has raised $6.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Shieldpay has raised $6.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Shieldpay's investors include 9Yards Capital, Anthemis Group, Outrun Ventures, PROfounders Capital.
Shieldpay is a fintech company founded in 2016 that builds a cloud-based digital payments platform specializing in secure escrow, verification, and disbursement for complex, high-value transactions in the legal services sector[1][2][5][7]. It serves law firms, professional services, and related industries handling mergers and acquisitions (M&A), litigation, real estate, class actions, and supply chain deals, solving pain points like manual processes, compliance risks, cybercrime, and slow fund handling by offering Verify (KYC/due diligence), Hold (safeguarded escrow), and Disburse (conditional payouts) capabilities[2][3][4][5][6]. With over £8 billion processed and partnerships with top 100 law firms, Shieldpay demonstrates strong growth momentum as a regulated payment institution under the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, enabling scalable, API-integrated solutions for global payments[2][4][5].
Shieldpay was founded in 2016 by Peter Janes, its CEO, who identified the need to mitigate risks in high-value, time-sensitive transactions plagued by manual, inefficient processes in legal and professional services[3][6][7]. Janes, drawing from insights into administrative burdens and fraud vulnerabilities for law firms handling client funds, created the concept of digital escrow to simplify and secure these flows[3][7]. Early traction came from addressing regulatory compliance (e.g., SRA, CLC, PSR 2017) and banking partnerships for fund safeguarding, evolving from a UK-based solution in Altrincham to a global platform now processing billions with API expansions and innovations like the world's first fully digital mortgage completion[1][2][3][5].
Shieldpay rides the fintech wave of real-time payments and digital transformation in legaltech, where rising transaction volumes, cyber threats, and regulatory demands (e.g., anti-money laundering) demand secure alternatives to traditional client accounts[2][3][6]. Timing aligns with open banking adoption, AI verification tools, and post-pandemic shifts to remote, efficient deal-making, amplified by market forces like increasing M&A activity and global supply chain complexities[3][5][6]. It influences the ecosystem by outsourcing compliance burdens for law firms, enabling marketplaces to monetize securely, and pioneering digital escrow for innovations like instant mortgages, fostering trust in high-stakes B2B payments[3][5].
Shieldpay is poised for expansion into broader professional services and international markets, leveraging its £8bn+ processing scale, API enhancements, and regulatory edge to capture more contingent payment flows amid growing demand for automated, fraud-proof fintech[4][5][6]. Trends like AI compliance, embedded finance, and real-time global rails will accelerate its growth, potentially evolving it into a worldwide standard for secure transactions and deepening partnerships with scaling fintechs and law firms. This positions Shieldpay to transform legal payments from risky necessities into seamless advantages, building on its mission to simplify complexity.
Shieldpay has raised $6.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $6.0M Seed in May 2017.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2017 | $6.0M Seed | 9Yards Capital, Anthemis Group, Outrun Ventures, PROfounders Capital |