Maximum raises USD $30 million seed round for banks

Maximum has raised USD $30 million in a seed funding round, one of the larger seed deals seen in fintech.

CRV led the investment, with participation from Pear VC, Restive, Plug and Play Ventures, Anthemis and other backers. The Miami-based company is emerging from stealth as it seeks to sell an AI-based operating system to banks.

Founded by Randy Fernando, Maximum is targeting a longstanding problem in banking technology. Many banks still run core systems built decades ago, before mobile banking, real-time payments, digital currencies and the latest wave of artificial intelligence tools.

More than 70% of the nearly 5,000 banks in the US still rely on legacy core systems developed in the last century, according to Maximum. Those systems can make product development, operational change and customer service updates slower and more costly for banks trying to respond to changing customer expectations.

Fernando previously founded two fintech companies that were later sold. Vault was acquired by Acorns in 2017, while Power was acquired by Marqeta in 2023.

The company is building what it describes as an AI-native operating system for banks, designed to replace fragmented infrastructure with a single platform. The system is intended to let banks build and deploy custom agents to automate operational workflows, monitor customer activity in real time and launch new financial products.

The funding will be used to expand product development, hire more engineers and operations staff, and support implementations at banks that sign up to the platform. Maximum said it has already drawn interest from larger community and regional banks and plans to work with institutions of different sizes over time.

Founder track record

Early backing reflects investor confidence in Fernando and a team that has worked together before. Maximum said its staff includes operators involved in building Fernando's earlier ventures across banking, payments and financial infrastructure.

That continuity appears to have contributed to the size of the seed round. Early-stage investors have become more selective in fintech in recent years, often focusing on founders with a record of exits, recurring customer demand and a clear route into regulated industries such as banking.

"For decades, banks have attempted to serve the evolving needs of customers on infrastructure that was never designed for today's world," said Randy Fernando, Founder, Maximum.

"The advancement of AI is creating a paradigm shift in financial services, and banks can't keep pace by relying on legacy providers. Maximum will provide banks with ultimate control, powerful agentic capabilities, and the tools to innovate, enabling them to deliver exceptional new experiences to their customers and partners."

Banking systems

Banks have spent years trying to modernise technology stacks that often combine legacy core processors with newer digital layers. In many cases, institutions add software on top of ageing systems rather than replacing them, leaving them with complex architectures and higher operating costs.

Maximum is entering a market where established core banking suppliers, newer cloud-based providers and specialist software groups are all trying to persuade banks to update their infrastructure. Its pitch centres on using AI as a foundational part of the operating system rather than as an add-on tool.

The company also said it is building security controls to address emerging risks linked to AI. Financial institutions are under pressure to manage fraud, cyber threats and operational vulnerabilities as new tools are adopted more widely across customer service, payments and back-office functions.

CRV's support gives the start-up a prominent lead investor at a time when venture firms are looking for differentiated software businesses in financial services. The firm framed the investment as a bet on a broader shift in banking infrastructure.

"Every generation of infrastructure eventually reaches a point where incremental improvements are no longer enough," said Caitlin Bolnick Rellas, General Partner, CRV.

"We believe banking technology has reached that moment. Randy has repeatedly identified foundational shifts before the broader market, and we're excited to back him for a second time as Maximum builds what we believe will become the operating system for the next generation of banking."