Business-to-business payments platform Nium announced Monday that it raised more than $200 million in Series D funding and saw its valuation rise above $1 billion.<\/p>\n
The company, now Singapore-based but shifting to the Bay Area, touted the investment as making it \u201cthe first B2B payments unicorn from Southeast Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riverwood Capital led the round, in which Temasek, Visa, Vertex Ventures, Atinum Capital, Beacon Venture Capital and Rocket Capital Investment participated, along with a group of angel investors like DoorDash\u2019s Gokul Rajaram, FIS\u2019 Vicky Bindra and Tribe Capital\u2019s Arjun Sethi. Including the new funding, Nium has raised $300 million to date, Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n
The B2B payments sector is already hot, yet underpenetrated, according to some experts.<\/a> To give an idea just how hot, Nium was seeking $150 million for its Series D round, received commitments of $300 million from eager investors and settled on $200 million, Nanu said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our fourth or fifth fundraise, but we have never had this kind of interest before \u2014 we even had our term sheets in five days,\u201d he added. \u201cI believe this interest is because we\u2019ve successfully managed to create a global platform that is heavily regulated, which gives us access to a lot of networks. This is an environment where payment is visible, and our core is powering frictionless commerce and enabling anyone to use our platform.\u201d<\/p>\n Nium\u2019s new round adds fuel to a fire shared by a number of companies all going after a global B2B payments market valued at $120 trillion annually<\/a>: last week, Paystand raised $50 million in Series C<\/a> funding to make B2B payments cashless, while Dwolla raised $21 million<\/a> for its API that allows companies to build and facilitate fast payments. In March, Higo brought in $3.3 million<\/a> to do the same in Latin America, while Balance, developing a B2B payments platform that allows merchants to offer a variety of payment methods. raised $5.5 million<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n Paystand banks $50M to make B2B payments cashless and with no fees<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Nium\u2019s approach is to provide access to a global payment infrastructure, including card issuance, accounts receivable and payable, and banking-as-a-service through a single API. The company\u2019s network enables customers to then send funds to more than 100 countries, pay out in more than 60 currencies, accept funds in seven currencies and issue cards in more than 40 countries, Nanu said. The company also boasts money transfer, card issuances and banking licenses in 11 jurisdictions.<\/p>\n Francisco Alvarez-Demalde, co-founding partner and managing partner at Riverwood, said in an email that the combination of software \u2014 plus regulatory licenses \u2014 and operating a fintech infrastructure platform on behalf of neobanks and corporates is a global trend experiencing hyper-growth.<\/p>\n Riverwood followed Nium for many years, and its future vision was what got the firm interested in being a part of this round. Alvarez-Demalde said that \u201cNium has the incredible combination of a great market opportunity, a talented founder and team, and we believe the company is poised for global growth based on underlying secular technology trends like increasing real-time payment capabilities and the proliferation of cross border commerce.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a central payment infrastructure in one API, Nium is a catalyst that unlocks cross-border payments, local accounts and card issuance with a network of local market licenses, partners and banking relationships to facilitate moving money across the world,\u201d he added. \u201cEnterprises of all types are embedding financial services as part of their consumer experience, and Nium is a key global enabler of this trend.\u201d<\/p>\n Nanu said the new funding enables the company to move to the United States, which represents 3% of Nium\u2019s revenue. He wants to increase that to 20% over the next 18 months, as well as expand in Latin America. The investment also gives the company a 12- to 18-month runway for further MA activity.\u00a0 In June, Nium acquired virtual card issuance company Ixaris<\/a>, and in July acquired Wirecard Forex India<\/a> to expose it to India\u2019s market. He also plans to expand the company\u2019s payments network infrastructure, invest in product development and add to Nium\u2019s 700-person headcount.<\/p>\n Nium already counts hundreds of enterprise companies as clients and plans to onboard thousands more in the next year. The company processes $8 billion in payments annually and has issued more than 30 million virtual cards since 2015. Meanwhile, revenue grew by over 280% year over year.<\/p>\n All of this growth puts the company on a trajectory for an initial public offering, Nanu said. He has already spoken to people who will help the company formally kick off that journey in the first quarter of 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike other companies that raise money for new products, we aim to expand in the existing sets of what we do,\u201d Nanu said. \u201cThe U.S. is a new market, but we have a good brand and will use the new round to provide a better experience to the customer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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