Currencycloud, a company that specializes in helping businesses make payments across geographies, has raised $25 mln in Series D funding from GV (formerly Google Ventures). The London-based company has also secured additional funding from existing investors like Notion Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Rakuten FinTech Fund and Anthemis. After the GV funding, funding for the five-year-old company now amounts to $61 mln.
Connective tissue
Currencycloud has 200 customers in 35 countries and millions of end-users use their platform through a diverse set of payment providers. Some of the Currencycloud clients that have built products on their API include Travelex, Standard Bank, Klarna, Revolut and Azimo. Currencycloud infrastructure has facilitated the transfer of $25 bln to date.
In an emailed response, Currencycloud CEO Mike Laven told Cointelegraph about what makes the company a sound investment:
“Our flexible, easy-to-integrate, developer friendly APIs fit seamlessly into our clients’ businesses and are what makes us stand out from our competitors. Like us, Google sees APIs as a key building block of today’s always-on, global economy and Currencycloud is the connective tissue.”
New funding
There is an increasing need to facilitate international payments and remove the high costs attached to sending money around the world. The new round of funding will help Currencycloud fuel its growth. Mike Laven disclosed that the company is regulated in the EU, US and Canada.
It is expected that the footprint of the company will now expand into Asia. This growth model fits in line with GV’s philosophy as well.
In a press release issued by Currencycloud, GV General Partner Tom Hulme commented: “We believe in empowering developers by making it easier for them to add scalable services to their products, ideally with simple APIs. Currencycloud is the leader in providing cross-border payment services in this manner, a real need as companies globalize.”
So what about cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are also technology that is being increasingly explored by many companies. Currencycloud has taken a watchful approach to the Blockchain scene. We asked Mike Laven if they have any interest in cryptocurrencies and he says: “Our focus is on creating brilliant APIs that enable our customers to build the next generation of payment services. We can plug into all sorts of technologies, although at the moment we do not see any real demand for Blockchain technologies. We are watching closely, though, and as the market evolves we will respond appropriately.”