iBanFirst, a French startup that provides foreign exchange payment and transfer services using real-time Fx rates has secured a funding of €15 million ($17 million). The investment is made by a long-standing investor Xavier Niel and venture capital funds Serena and Breega. The funding will be used to improve its overall operational efficiency and become a leading European Fx service provider for companies with a global operation and also to expand its footprint.
The fresh new injection of cash comes two years after the company first raised €10 million from Xaviel Niel. Founded in 2013 as FX4BIZ, later changing its name in 2016 to iBanFirst has overcome all challenges to payments and transfers of money in foreign currency and become a leading Fx aggregator. It has also received AISP and PISP agreements which is essential for running this type of business. IBanFirst’s primary aim is to simplify currency conversion processes for companies. This is especially useful for firms that have vendors across the world and need to pay invoices in different currencies. The company supports clients who make a minimum transfer of €100,000 per annum and at present, it has 100 employees with more than 2,000 clients in its book.
Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier, Founder of iBanFirst commented:
“With these new funds raised, the favorable context under PSD2, current market depth and cumulative data from 2,500 clients and 20,000 suppliers worldwide, our potential for expansion is enormous. Our ambition is to constantly develop our platform with new services. We started in 2018 with our online hedging offer, guaranteeing a currency exchange rate, personalized IBANs, aggregation of external accounts, payment tracking with Swift GPI, etc.”
“In fact, there are no limits for us when it comes to revolutionizing the financial universe of corporations. In the near future, we will provide access to new currencies, debt financing, cash investments, and even more sophisticated forward exchange solutions.”
