Thunes, the global B2B payment infrastructure platform, has extended its Series C funding to USD $72m, with backing from top global investors – Visa, Singapore-based EDBI Pte Ltd, and Endeavor Catalyst. This latest round helps the company to directly challenge the cross-border payments ‘status quo’ to make them instant, cheaper, and more secure worldwide.
Founded in 2016, Thunes has been on a fast growth curve since its last big funding round in 2021. The company currently has 3 billion mobile wallet accounts, compared to 720 million previously, plus another 4 billion bank accounts connected through its network of partners, which include the likes of M-Pesa in Kenya, WeChat across Asia, Uber, PayPal, MoneyGram, Remitly and many more that are enabling their customers to make and take payments using Thunes’ rails.
In all, Thunes currently covers some 300 payment methods across 80 currencies and allows payments out in 132 countries, with collections in 70 markets. And to date, it’s processed more than $50 billion in transactions.
In April 2022, Thunes acquired a controlling stake in a leading anti-money laundering and compliance platform company Tookitaki, which now enables the company’s advanced compliance, anti-fraud, and anti-money laundering capabilities, setting an international benchmark for sustainable compliance.
The company is headquartered in Singapore, with regional offices in London, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Barcelona, Miami, and Nairobi. Current investors include Visa, EDBI, Endeavor Catalyst, Marshall Wace, Bessemer Venture Partners, 01Fintech, Future Shape, Insight Partners, Checkout.com, Helios Investment Partners, and GGV Capital.
When we started the business in 2016, it was because we saw an inefficiency in cross-border payments, specifically around how one business can pay a supplier or another business. Going to a bank and asking to wire £100 was just not that simple, or cheap. You have cable fees, wire fees, questions about whether the sender or recipient pays, the exchange rate. And you don’t know when the money might arrive. It could be one day, or seven days.
Peter De Caluwe, Thunes CEO
Thunes already has an ongoing global partnership with Visa because looking back in October 2022, Visa and Thunes announced a strategic collaboration to extend Visa Direct’s reach to 1.5 billion digital wallets. Through this partnership, Thunes B2B payments platform offers a send-to-wallet capability to 78 digital wallet providers globally.
Using an API integration with Visa Direct, Visa’s customers – financial institutions, governments, neobanks, and money transfer operators – can enable consumers and small businesses to send funds to eligible digital wallets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, powered by the Thunes global network.
We’re proud to close Series C with such a strong roster of influential investors. Support from Visa, EDBI and Endeavor is a powerful endorsement of our strategy and capabilities, providing us with additional resources to develop innovative solutions to face industry challenges.
By leveraging the insights and support of our investors, we will expand our network and offer businesses and consumers an unparalleled cross-border payments experience. I’m delighted to see an even deeper collaboration with Visa. Together, we will pave the way towards a global payment ecosystem that is inclusive, efficient and ubiquitous.
Peter De Caluwe, CEO, Thunes
Digital wallets play a key role in providing underserved communities with greater economic empowerment and financial inclusion by penetrating previously unreached regions. Visa is proud to take part in Thunes’ Series C investment round and we look forward to continuing our collaboration aimed at providing more customers around the world with quick and simple access to the financial system through digital wallets.
Ruben Salazar Genovez, Global head of Visa Direct
Thunes’ commitment to addressing the business challenges of international money movement aligns well with our mission to strengthen Singapore’s position as a global innovation and financial hub. As strategic investors, we deeply appreciate the significance of nurturing Singapore-based companies like Thunes throughout their growth journey, and we are excited to provide our support in expanding their local and regional presence. We anticipate a close collaboration with Peter and his team as we work together to achieve even greater milestones.
Paul Ng, CEO of EDBI
