Listen to this articleInternational collections and payments can be complex, vague, and leave payments service providers (PSPs), banks and fintechs feeling powerless over the customer experience they can deliver. Currencycloud’s technology makes it easier for payment platforms of the future to regain control. Below is our recent interview with Steve Lemon, VP & Co-founder of Currencycloud:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Currencycloud?
A: Our cloud-based platform removes that complexity from international transactions, giving our customers clarity and control over their business so they can focus on the things that matter: their customers. With enterprise-class solutions for clients and partners such as Starling Bank and Visa, we understand their needs and can help with market-leading products.
Today, we have 85 different APIs across four modules – collect, convert, manage and pay – that cover the entire workflow in B2B cross-border payments. The as-a-service platform is proprietary and is fully cloud-based.
We launched in 2012 and are based in London, regulated in Europe, the U.S. and Canada, and we have processed more than $50 billion to more than 180 countries.
Recommended: Q: You’ve recently raised $80m in Series E round; could you tell us something more?
A: For us this was not just ‘another’ funding round. We wanted to partner with investors that could fundamentally help us develop our business, rather than take more money from institutional investors and VCs.
We were in the fortunate position of being approached by several of the world’s leading financial institutions who saw a compelling reason to make a strategic investment in our business. This is testament to the fact that they see Currencycloud’s technology as a game-changer in the international payments space.
We are hugely proud that Visa, BNP Paribas, Siam Commercial Bank, SBI, and the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), have recognised how Currencycloud’s innovative approach to international payments might help them stay ahead of their competition in years to come. Each of them will help us to develop our product offering, enter new territories and reach new customers. Our existing investors, including Google Ventures and Sapphire (SAP) also renewed their commitment and participated in the funding round.
Q: What types of businesses do you serve?
A: We are a B2B2X business which means we power other businesses (banks, fintechs or PSPs), so they can best serve their customers, whether that’s a business or a consumer.
As our CEO recently commented: we’re not competing with our clients. We are invisible to the end beneficiaries of what we do. If you bank with Revolut, Starling, Monzo, Standard Bank of South Africa, or any other number of banks, fintechs or PSPs, we are powering the cross-border transactions their customers are making.
Q: Can you walk us through your features?
A: Our business broadly focuses on four areas: Collect, Pay, Convert & Manage.
We make it easier for our customers to get paid with ‘local’ accounts, so they can seem like a local in multiple territories, making it easier to do business internationally. We provide wholesale FX rates, eliminating the risk associated with fluctuating exchange rates, allowing customers to know what they will pay upfront. We automate the end-to-end payment process and send money to bank accounts anywhere in the world. We also give our customers’ customers complete control of their digital multi-currency account with our management tools.
We offer complete flexibility through our APIs, so customers choose which components they use. However, as our customers’ businesses have grown, so have their needs, so we recently announced Currencycloud Spark. With this new offering we have drawn together all four elements and allow companies to easily create receivables accounts around the world, manage multiple currencies, and instantly move money between accounts, meaning financial institutions such as banks, fintechs and PSPs can provide business customers with total flexibility in how they manage their international payment flows with their customers.
We have also recently launched Currencycloud Insights, a web-based analytics tool giving our customers, and their customers, increased visibility of payments and conversions, to allow them to identify opportunities to increase performance and make savings.
Recommended: Q: What are some of the main objectives for Currencycloud in 2020 and how do you plan to achieve them?
A: Embedded finance is fast becoming the newest layer in the modern technology stack and with our recent round of investment we are working on three key areas to maintain our position as a leader in providing embedded B2B cross-border payments for platforms of the future.
We are investing in talent to ensure we remain the best technology platform available on the market and continue to offer outstanding customer service.
We are developing and rolling out best-in-class products, like Currencycloud Spark, that delivers outstanding service to our more than 350 customers, including Visa, Starling, Revolut, Dwolla and Penta, and build our capabilities to serve a new set of larger, enterprise-class customers.
We are committed to growing in North America, where we have an established and active presence, and we will be developing an on-the-ground presence in Asia as that market continues to grow for us.
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