The ability of companies and individuals to seamlessly and easily transfer money to any country of the world is an essential part of globalization and further digitization of many businesses. So it comes as no surprise that VC firms invest heavily in financial services startups that drive the transformation of global payments. However, Google Ventures was always reluctant to invest in fintech and until recently it was primarily interested in life sciences companies. The turnaround happened last week when Currencycloud, the world’s leading cross-border payments platform, raised $25M in Series D funding led by GV. What’s more, this has been the first fintech investment of Google Ventures in Europe.
Since its launch in 2012 the London-based company has received $61 million in four rounds. The existing investors including Notion Capital, Anthemis Group, Rakuten (the Japanese e-commerce giant) and Sapphire Ventures (the investment arm of SAP) have also increased their funding thus expressing their confidence in Currencycloud. The fintech company is planning to use the new money inflows to scale the platform and continue its global expansion. Besides opening an office in the USA, the startup shows much interest in the Asian market to be able to offer uninterrupted service to the customers across the world.
A fintech platform with over 200 customers in 35 countries and millions of end-users
Currencycloud offers its services to the companies that need to deliver high amounts of payments internationally but don’t want to build an expensive infrastructure to support their own payment solution. They include banks, other fintech startups, e-commerce platforms etc. As stated by the company CEO Mike Laven, “Currencycloud has an API that they sell to other payment firms, banks and e-commerce companies, from shipping to electronics, wealth management and travel, allowing them to do international transfers and payments, with built-in compliance”.
The company counts over 200 customers in 35 countries and millions of end-users who have access to its platform through their payment providers. Currencycloyd’s clients include Standard Bank Group, a Swedish payments business Klarna Inc, foreign exchange company Travelex Ltd, mobile remittance business Azimo, crowdfunding platform Seedrs, foreign exchange card Revolut, UK telecom giant Lebara etc. These firms pay the company a cut of all payments made via its API. To date, $25 billion has been sent through Currencycloud’s infrastructure to over 200 countries.
Accessing the world of global payments with Currencycloud’s Payment Engine
The platform developed by Currencycloud developers in cooperation with their Eastern European software development provider N-iX is a cloud-based platform that allows to automate international money transactions. Thus the company aims to provide businesses with tools that would help them remove the friction and inefficiencies of traditional cross-border payments. Currencycloud’s customers can use the engine to securely automate the full payment lifecycle – from receipt of funds to currency conversion and payment. Moreover, it enables global access since it supports over 30 currencies in 212 countries.
Another goal of the fintech company is to empower the developers with diverse and easy-to-use set of tools that they could use in the development of their payments solutions. The platform is built on RESTful architecture, making it easy for developers to integrate into the existing systems. Moreover, engineers may find all the necessary documentation and resources in the Developer Center.
As a result, companies can use Currencycloud’s API to onnect to the power of their Payment Engine and send money internationally in a cheaper and easier way. The payments platform is designed for specifically for businesses who want to make high volumes of payments, our API is how most clients connect to the power of their Payment Engine.
The functionality of the solution includes a multi-currency e-wallet that allows the company’s clients to view their balance and payment history, the conversion manager where they may check exactly what the conversion is going to cost them, the payment manager which enables clients to simplify and automate the payments workflows etc. Additionally, the company helps its customers to handle compliance and regulation requirements like KYC policy. The fintech platform is regularly reviewed and approved by regulators and bank partners across the world so the company dedicates much attention to security.
Cooperation with N-iX, the Eastern European Software Development Provider
Currencycloud started cooperation with N-iX in 2013 and since then we have worked together on different parts of the platform. The dedicated team of engineers and testers at N-iX delivered a number of service improvements and new functionality, namely a responsive web application powered by Knockout JS, a new enhanced version of the RESTful API, integration of the services with third parties, automation for compliance check system etc.
We were happy to hear that our long-term partner received a major investment from Google Ventures. It is the best sign of the excellent quality of the solution and the value it brings to its customers. Currencycloud’s exceptional offering on the cross-border payments market empowers businesses by giving them access to the international market and, naturally, it can’t go unnoticed.
