In yet another example of the cross-border payment investment and innovation levels maintaining a high-velocity mode, we have this announcement posted in Nium’s website, which has the Singapore-based fintech receiving a $200 million capital investment from various P.E. firms and some high profile individual investors. The release indicates that the additional capital raises the firm’s valuation to the unicorn range ($1 billion+), which is apparently the first time this has been achieved by a fintech HQ’d in Southeast Asia.
Nium is a 2015 startup that focuses on global payments, with technology that provides easier experiences for their clients in cross-border payments execution using API connectivity to global payment infrastructures. Core clients include financial institutions, other fintechs, payment companies focusing on disbursements, and travel industry players.
‘Nium has established its platform as the preferred connection to the global payments infrastructure. Serving hundreds of enterprise clients, and with plans to onboard thousands more, Nium will use the Series D funds to expand its technical infrastructure and add new embedded fintech services. Through a single API, Nium provides access to the world’s payment infrastructure, including technologies for pay-outs, pay-ins, card issuance, and banking-as-a-service. Once connected, Nium customers can send funds to more than 100 countries (most in real-time), pay out in more than 60 currencies, accept funds in 7 currencies, and issue cards in more than 40 countries. Foundational to Nium is its license portfolio, owning the most complete set of money transfer, card issuance and banking licenses in fintech, with services available in 11 jurisdictions.’
We were able to spend a few minutes chatting with Frederick Crosby, Chief Revenue Officer for Nium, who provided some additional texture about the company and its’ expected uses of the new capital. Although Nium is a relatively new fintech and derives substantial revenues from the Asia Pacific and Europe, it already has offices in 17 cities across six continents.
Some of the capital investment will indeed be used for adding staff and creating a larger customer base in North America and Latin America. Mr. Crosby indicated that other uses of the new funds will include continued investment in core business and technology, new use cases, and additional strategic acquisitions. “Today’s global payments infrastructure is breaking under its complexity. We’ve built a unique platform that provides access to all your cross-border payment needs in one API suite. This significant round of funding will enable us to scale our execution, expanding not only the capabilities our platform offers but also the markets and clients it serves”, said Crosby.
‘Nium’s business has significantly scaled in the past year. Nium processes US$8 billion in payments annually. It has issued more than 30 million virtual cards to date. Revenues grew by more than 280 percent year-over-year…. Success will be driven by two recent strategic acquisitions, including the acquisition of travel B2B payments leader, Ixaris, which added comprehensive virtual card issuance capabilities to the Nium platform, as well as the acquisition of Wirecard Forex India Private Limited, which gives Nium greater reach into India’s booming payments market. The Series D investment provides the flexibility to explore additional strategic opportunities…. The capital infusion arrives at a time when the global market opportunities for Nium in embedded financial services, cross-border transfers, and card payments are large and rapidly expanding. Nium estimates these global trends to have a total addressable market of nearly $50 trillion.’
Overview by Steve Murphy, Director, Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
