PROVIDENCE – The Slater Technology Fund today announced its third investment in Providence-based Andera Inc., which the fund described as the largest provider of online account-opening services.

The $350,000 cash infusion was part of the financial technology firm’s latest financing round, which totaled $850,000. It brings the Slater Fund’s total stake in the company to $750,000.

“Andera’s technology has set the bar for the online account-opening market and its financial services customer base,” Thorne Sparkman, managing director of the Slater Technology Fund, said in a statement today.

“The company’s growing list of partnerships with major software providers and retail financial institutions is helping not only to increase its own market lead, but [also] to further develop the young and burgeoning space as a whole.”

Since its founding in 2000, Andera has blossomed into the financial services industry’s largest provider of online account-opening and account-funding solutions, the fund said.

To keep up with that growth, the company has grown its work force 60 percent over the past 12 months to 50 employees. In addition, Andera announced partnerships in August with online banking pioneer Yodlee Inc. (READ MORE) and last month with software and services supplier Harland Financial Solutions Inc., which will integrate Andera’s offerings into its own Internet banking and core processing solutions.

“Our solution is changing the way financial institutions acquire new customers,” Andera co-founder and CEO Charles Kroll said in a statement today. “As consumers grow increasingly comfortable with managing their financial lives online, financial institutions are responding by offering an increasing array of electronic solutions. Our capabilities help them reduce the hassle that comes with establishing a banking relationship, making it easier to turn prospective consumers into loyal customers.”

On Friday, Andera announced the signing of its 200th financial institution customer. Its clients – ranging from Top 10 banks to community banks and credit unions – represent nearly $450 billion in total assets, the company said.

“After spending more than three years adding our first 100 customers, we’re thrilled to have achieved our second hundred in less than 16 months,” Kroll said of the milestone. “As the financial services industry continues to realize the hidden potential of the online channel as a sales and revenue driver, we expect this pace to only accelerate further. We are still only in the early market, and I continue to believe we are just scratching the surface of what will be possible.”

That view is confirmed by market research firm Celent, which found that less than 2 percent of U.S. financial institutions offered online account-opening services in 2007, but predicted the number will reach 18 to 20 percent by 2010.

Andera Inc., a financial technology startup based in Providence, offers automated online account opening and other products and services for retail financial institutions. Additional information is available at www.andera.com. Information about Harland Financial Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Harland Clarke Holdings Corp. and M&F Worldwide Corp. (NYSE: MFW), is available at www.harlandfinancialsolutions.com.

The Slater Technology Fund, established in 1997 by then-Gov. Lincoln Almond and the R.I. General Assembly, provides seed capital to technology-based businesses in Rhode Island. Additional information is available at www.slaterfund.com.