Nium

Based in Singapore, Nium (formerly known as InstaReM) offers white-label and full stack cross-border payment infrastructure, for financial institutions, financial technologies (FinTechs), payment service providers, and enterprises (particularly SMEs). The platform facilitates transactions, and spending and receiving money across borders, through automated clearing house (ACH) and wire payments, virtual accounts, cards, and e-wallets. In addition, the company also offers card issuing infrastructure for enterprises to offer virtual and physical cards across the globe.

The company was also issued licenses by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in July 2021, to conduct account issuance, domestic money transfers, merchant acquisition, and E-money issuance services, in addition to its existing cross border transactions. The company also secured additional regulatory approvals, including a Type 1 Funds Transfer Service Provider (FTSP) license from Japan's Financial Service Agency (FSA) and registration on the Financial Service Provider Register (FSPR) in New Zealand.

As of October 2021, the company facilitated fund transfers in over 190 countries (funds can be received in 27 countries), 85 in real-time, and in more than 100 currencies. Although the company initially focused on the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, it has gradually obtained licenses in around 40 countries (claiming to be the only FinTech infrastructure company to do so), including leading non-APAC markets, such as the US, Canada, the UK, and the EU. Moreover, in July 2021, it acquired Wirecard Forex India, including Wirecard’s authorized category II money exchange dealer license, from the Reserve Bank of India.

Nium, launched its platform in the US in October 2021, together with an API-based crypto-as-a-service offering. The offering lets financial institutions embed crypto investment solutions, including buying, selling, and holding crypto and will initially support five cryptocurrencies in the US in 2021 with plans to expand to 20 currencies in 35 countries by 2022. Nium also intends to expand its crypto services to include stablecoin wallets and crypto payment acceptances in the future. In April 2022, Nium acquired Socash, a Singaporean alternative payment network, for an undisclosed sum.

Nium reported a 50% YoY growth in revenue for 2023.

Key customers and partnerships

Cryptocurrency payment gateway Alchemy Pay partnered with Nium in January 2022, to enable its clients to make cryptocurrency payments, across Nium’s global network. Nium subsequently partnered with B2B2C crypto infrastructure platform Zero Hash, in October 2022, to let its US customers accept crypto payments. Zero Hash essentially removed the tech and regulatory barriers for crypto-to-fiat conversions, for Nium’s customers.