By Lee Kah Whye
Singapore, August 21 : Earlier this month, Singapore-based cross-border payments platform, Thunes, raised another round of capital which puts it within range of becoming a “unicorn”, a startup valued at one billion US dollars or more.
After raising USD 72 million in its 'Series C' funding round, which closed last month bringing total venture capital investments in the firm to USD 202 million, Thunes boosted its valuation to around USD 900 million.
Thunes already has a presence in India and other emerging economies like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan, with large unbanked populations. It aims to strengthen its business in China, the world’s largest digital payment market.
Unlike e-payment platforms like Airtel Money, PhonePe and Paytm, Thunes provides B to B payment backbone to businesses to facilitate cross-border transactions. The disruption it will cause will be to bank's international wire transactions which now are dominated by SWIFT and similar international interbank networks.
Thunes, founded seven years ago bridges the gaps in the global payment infrastructure, providing an efficient and reliable platform for businesses and consumers to move money worldwide. The company claims that its network allows global communities to quickly and cost-effectively make and receive payments, regardless of their location, giving them access to new markets and economic opportunities.
Unlike SWIFT, which only covers the banking network, Thunes allows businesses to pay out to 132 countries across 4 billion bank accounts and 3 billion mobile wallets.
Thunes says that its proprietary money-moving infrastructure is able to reduce costs by up to 90 per cent compared to SWIFT transfers and settles most of the transactions within 30 minutes.
On its website, Thunes says that: “We have built a proprietary global network of direct connections to local payment brands for an improved and more connected cross-border payment experience. We connect the old systems with the new ones, allowing businesses and consumers to instantly send and accept payments anywhere in the world, no matter which payment method they choose.”
Among its major customers are Airtel Money, PayPal, Western Union, Revolut, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Uber, Southeast Asian ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab, and M-Pesa, one of Africa’s most popular mobile money platforms.
The startup’s Series C funding was led by payments giant Visa, US-based Endeavor Catalyst (which has backed the likes of Bukalapak and unicorns Carro and e-Fishery) and British hedge fund behemoth Marshall Wace.
Series C financiers include the investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, EDBI (Economic Development Board Investments). EDBI which started in 1991 specialises in investing in high-growth technology sectors ranging from Information & Communication Technology (ICT), emerging technology, healthcare and promising Singapore SMEs (Small Medium Size Enterprises) in strategic industries. EDBI is a value investor whose objective is to assist companies achieve their goals by leveraging their broad network, resources and expertise. EDBI supports companies seeking to expand in Asia and globally through Singapore.
Thunes ambition is to be as ubiquitous as SWIFT, the de facto leader in the interbank transfer business.
“In 10, 15 years from now, it would be really cool if treasurers and CFOs would say, ‘I wire you with Thunes’ instead of ‘I wire you with SWIFT,’ ” said Thunes CEO Peter De Caluwe to Forbes in an interview.
With the additional capital through this latest funding round, Thunes is looking to bolster its presence in China, the world’s biggest mobile payments market. In November last year, Thunes partnered with Tencent to allow money transfers to users of the Chinese internet giant’s popular WeChat super app. Following the recent establishment of a Chinese subsidiary, Thunes is looking to obtain local licenses and double its team there.
“China is probably the world’s biggest supplier of everything from electronics to goods and services,” CEO De Caluwe added, saying that he expects massive growth from China. “There are also a lot of e-commerce players in China who act on a global scale. So everything you do in China is directly 10, 50, 100 times bigger than every other country.”
“Thunes is a fast-growing, emerging leader in cross-border payments for businesses. It also serves as the underlying payment infrastructure for major global players, particularly in emerging markets,” said Paul Ng, CEO of EDBI. “Best of all, Thunes is founded in Singapore and it intends to continue its next phase of growth from Singapore, which is why we thought it is appropriate for us to lend support.”
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