Nium
wikipedia:Nium is a Singapore-headquartered Fintech company. Originally founded by Prajit Nanu and Michael Bermingham,.[1] and launched as consumer-remittance platform Instarem in 2014,[2] the company launched its B2B arm in 2016[3] and rebranded itself as Nium in 2019[4], elevating Pratik Gandhi to cofounder in 2021[5]
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History[edit]
Founders Prajit Nanu and Michael Bermingham developed a solution to provide a transparent service for overseas money transfer[6] with close to live exchange rates. Instarem was incorporated based on the premise of online instant remittances, hence the name Instarem.[7]
By 2017, the company had begun to operate a cross-border payment service targeted at business users, including banks and retailers[8][9]. Subsequently, in 2019, the company rebranded to Nium[10], with Instarem continuing to operate as a wholly-owned consumer service.[11][12][13]
In 2021, the company made its first acquisitions[14]: Wirecard Forex, a payments services company in India,[15] and Ixaris, a travel payments optimization firm.[16] In April 2022, Nium acquired payment platform Socash.[17]
Funding[edit]
In January 2015, Global Founders Capital, Germany-based Venture Capital arm of Rocket Internet Founders, invested US$500,000 as seed round of funding in Instarem that helped the company develop its money transfer platform.[18]
In March 2016, Instarem received an investment of US$5 million in Series A from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India (part of the Vertex Holdings network of funds), Fullerton Financial Holdings and Global Founders Capital, to acquire licenses for money transfer business in other markets.[19][20][21]
July 2017 followed with a Series B round of US$13 million led by GSR ventures, with participation from SBI-FMO Ventures, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, Fullerton Financial Holdings, and Global Founders Capital.[22][23] This investment was slated to further build its global payment infrastructure by way of increasing its payment corridors from 150 to around 2000.[24]
In November 2018 the company raised a Series C round of over $20 million, directed towards growth in new emerging markets in Latin America as well as Europe.[25]
This was followed by a private equity investment round of over $20 million[26] in May 2020 by BRI Ventures, the corporate venture division of Bank BRI of Indonesia, and Visa.[27]
By July 2021, the company had raised a Series D round[28] of USD$200M,[29][30] led by Riverwood Capital with participation from Temasek, GIC, Visa, Vertex Ventures, Atinum Capital, Beacon Venture Capital and Rocket Capital Investment. The company has since been characterized as a “unicorn.” Its valuation as of February 2022 is estimated at $2bn.[31]
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See also[edit]
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