Raiffeisen investor Elevator Ventures takes a stake in Swiss fintech company Rivero

Zurich-based fintech Rivero has secured a new investor in Elevator Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI). The investment is intended, in particular, to accelerate the company’s expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. Rivero develops AI-powered software that enables banks and payment service providers to automate complex payment processing workflows. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

For Rivero, this investment is primarily strategic. Through Elevator Ventures, the company gains access to an investor with experience in the European banking sector and a network in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. The investment builds on the Swiss fintech’s existing growth strategy following its Series A funding round. Rivero aims to further develop its technology and acquire additional banks and financial institutions in Europe as clients.

AI Aims to Automate Complex Payment Processes

Rivero targets an area of the banking business that often remains invisible to end customers but causes significant administrative overhead for financial institutions. In payment processing, banks must navigate numerous regulatory requirements, card network guidelines, and processes related to complaints, fraud, and chargebacks.

Many of these processes are complex, labor-intensive, and, in some cases, still rely heavily on manual processing. Rivero is developing software designed to simplify these processes through automation and artificial intelligence. Rather than digitizing individual steps in isolation, the goal is to make information centrally available and automate recurring tasks. The company offers two specialized platforms for this purpose: Kajo for compliance with payment network requirements and Amiko for handling payment disputes and fraud cases.

Kajo Automates Compliance Requirements

With Kajo, Rivero addresses compliance with the rules and requirements of payment networks. Banks and payment service providers must regularly account for changes to technical specifications, procedures, and compliance requirements. This information is often scattered across various documents and communications.

Kajo is designed to automatically distribute relevant updates, improve visibility into relevant requirements, and consolidate fragmented documentation into an AI-powered knowledge platform. This enables financial institutions to centrally research relevant guidelines and integrate changes into their existing processes in a more structured manner. This is relevant for banks because compliance with such requirements continuously ties up personnel and technical resources.

Amiko Brings Agent-Based AI to Complaint Handling

The second platform, Amiko, focuses on dispute management and the recovery of funds following cases of fraud. When customers dispute a card payment or report a transaction as fraudulent, financial institutions often face multi-step processing workflows.

Amiko uses agent-based AI to automatically categorize cases, suggest appropriate next steps, and automate recurring workflows from the initial report through to resolution. In more complex cases, the software is designed to support human case workers rather than completely replace their decisions. Rivero expects this to result in shorter processing times, reduced operational effort, and faster recovery of funds.

Elevator Ventures Opens Access to Central and Eastern Europe

With Elevator Ventures, Rivero gains an investor whose strategic value lies particularly in its regional network. The corporate venture capital fund of Raiffeisen Bank International has experience with technology companies that develop solutions for banks and financial service providers.

Rivero intends to leverage this expertise to expand its market presence beyond its existing European customer relationships. A particular focus is on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

“We want to bring investors on board who understand both the complexity of the banking business and the markets in which we operate.”

Thomas Müller, CEO of Rivero

Elevator Ventures’ network in Central and Eastern Europe makes the investor a particularly relevant strategic partner. Maximilian Schausberger, Managing Director of Elevator Ventures, also sees a close connection between Rivero’s technology and the needs of European financial institutions.

Growth Following the Series A Round

This new investment follows Rivero’s previous Series A funding round. The press release does not provide details on the amount of the current investment or the company’s valuation. Nor were any specific new client contracts or immediate operational collaboration with individual banks within the RBI Group announced.

What is certain is that Rivero intends to use this additional partnership to continue its product development and expand its relationships with European banks and payment service providers. For the investor, in turn, the investment provides access to a company focused on automating a highly specialized area of financial infrastructure.

The market is also active behind the scenes

While many fintechs compete directly for end customers, Rivero focuses on the operational infrastructure of existing financial institutions. Its business model thus capitalizes on a different trend in the banking sector: Not only are digital customer interfaces changing, but so, increasingly, are the internal processes through which banks actually deliver their services.

In regulated areas such as compliance and payment disputes, there is a great need for automation. At the same time, the requirements for data quality, traceability, and control mechanisms are high. This is where Rivero’s specialization could be an advantage. The platforms address clearly defined tasks in payment processing rather than offering a general AI solution for all banking processes.