London-based remittance startup Currencycloud has won $80 million in funding led by Visa. The Series E round—Currencycloud’s eleventh since its 2012 conception—also included cash injections from payment giants like the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, Japan’s SBI Group and French bank BNP Paribas.
Visa has already announced that it will fold Currencycloud’s API into its own service, as financial companies race to eliminate high-commission remittance incumbents like Western Union and MoneyGram from a global market worth an estimated $715bn. TechCrunch guesses that this latest round brings Currencycloud’s valuation to around $220m, with its total investment totalling $140m.
With that in mind, it’s not surprising to note that Currencycloud’s rise to fortune has been swift. The company claims it has now processed over $50bn in cross-border payments, and is used by around 350 companies worldwide.
“I’m delighted to be joining the board of such an exciting technology company,” said Visa SVP and treasurer Colleen Ostrowski in a statement. “Currencycloud is re-shaping the way that the platforms of the future are moving money around the world, and there is huge potential for the company to drive further innovation in the cross-border payments industry.”