Moving Money Cross Border via an API?

Facebook isn’t the only company stirring up financial services in the UK, as The Currency Cloud announces another $10 million round of funding. The Currency Cloud powers payments for the startups that Facebook spoke to in December but the CEO reports that they are not part of the dialogue.

The Currency Cloud provides an API that end user-facing companies use for a transparent, fast and secure payments engine to power cross-currency transfers. They were established in 2012 and have over 40,000 end-customers that have used their service, powering over 100 platform customers operating in 212 counties. Over $4bn in payments is processed annually and 95% of the payments were delivered within 24 hours.

The CEO of Currency Cloud, Mike Laven, says that the funding will be used to expand the London-based, European-heavy business internationally, and specifically into the U.S. The company is currently growing at a twelvefold rate year-on-year however, the margin on the process in small.

In 2014, revenues totaled $3 million and they are expected to grow 150%-200% this year to reach up to $9 million. Similar to other financial services startups, this business is based on economies of scale. The Currency Cloud is competing with banks to win business from FS companies focused on transferring and exchanging money, amounts of all sizes. Banks still control about 85% of international payments transfers, which provides a lot of opportunities to enter the market.

Laven explains how their company stands out, saying “part of our concept is to be very startup friendly, we talk to and look at how we can go to other partner firms to be global broadly across the marketplace”.  The company also invests in automation and reconciliation as part of the API they offer, differing the platform from banks.

This latest round brings the total raised by The Currency Cloud to $19 million since 2012. Be sure to follow PYMNTS.com for an update from Laven where we’ll ask probing questions about the Facebook dialogue.