Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has backed up London based fintech startup Currencycloud in a funding round with the startup raising around $80 million. The startup powers cross-border transactions for several finance apps.
Currenycloud APIs integrated into various platforms to allow cross border transactions
Currencycloud has developed a range of remittance APIs that allows integration of financial transactions into its platform. So far, Currencycloud’s 85 APIs have transacted close to $50 billion to date between 180 countries. They cover areas such as foreign exchange, inbound money collection, digital wallets that manage several currencies, and outgoing payments, among others. Although it’s not popular as Revolut and Monzo, the startup offers some vital help in the background for the operation of the apps.
In an interview with CNBC, Currencycloud CEO Mike Laven stated that they call the segment embedded finance. This means that the company embeds its products to platforms from fintech and banks. Laven added that Currencycloud might be one other most important business unheard of, which does not have a strategy of competing with its customers. The CEO indicated that by last year the company had around 350 companies using its APIs.
Several companies participated in the funding round
The latest Series E funding attracted several established companies as its new strategic investors. Some of them include French bank BNP Paribas, Visa, the SBI Group, Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank, and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation. Visa has indicated that it is integrating the company’s services into its operations. Other investors that took part in the funding round include Google ventures that led the Series D funding, Sapphire Ventures, Anthemis, Accomplice, and Norton Capital.
Laven indicated that they will now focus more on Asia, with its new Singapore office expected to capitalize on offering money-transfer APIs to businesses in the ASEAN region. According to the CEO, the business to business fintech sector is bigger and profitable relative to the consumer business, although it has challenges. He added that the emphasis for Currencycloud will not be profitability but expansion to new markets.
