Currencycloud

UK-based Currencycloud offers an infrastructure platform for banks and other financial businesses to integrate cross-border money transfer services into their offerings. The infrastructure is created through a collection of payment and conversion APIs which lets users create their own payment platforms.

Businesses can also use Currencycloud to build end-to-end payment platforms through including fund collection, conversion, and payments. In 2019, the company claimed that its 85 APIs were used to transfer USD 50 billion between around 180 countries. The company also reported that it was working directly with over 350 companies at that time.

In January 2020, Currencycloud raised USD 80 million in a Series E funding round co-led by Visa and Sapphire to invest in expanding its presence in Asia. In March 2021, the company partnered with the European banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, HUBUC, to power cross-border payments made by HUBUC’s enterprise customers, across Europe.

Visa announced signing a definitive agreement to acquire Currencycloud in July 2021, at a GBP 700 million (USD 962 million) valuation, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Currencycloud will retain its current management team and continue operating from London. Visa expects to leverage the acquisition to boost existing foreign exchange capabilities, generate new use cases and payment flows, accelerate the time-to-market, and improve payment transparency for customers. Currencycloud also appointed Mark Ledsham as COO and Neil Drennan as CTO, just one month after this announcement.