Thunes, the B2B payment infrastructure platform has announced it has raised in excess of $60 million in Series C funding to support global growth plans for its instant payments solution.
The latest funding round was led by London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace with support from Bessemer Venture Partners and a newly raised Southeast Asian private equity firm 01Fintech.
Thunes, which was founded in 2016, is aiming to solve the problems of global inefficiencies in moving money internationally by creating a next-generation payment system that is able to make payments instant, quick and secure and as simple as sending a text message.
Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes, said in a statement: “We want to challenge the status quo in global payments. Our ambition is to provide everyone – businesses, entrepreneurs or individuals – with access to cross-border money movement at high speed and with absolute efficiency. In today’s mobile-first world, digital wallets have revolutionised financial empowerment and rendered the traditional banking system obsolete. Thunes has already connected 3 billion wallet users in our network – almost half of the world’s population.”
In addition to the latest funding, the company said it had quadrupled the reach of its mobile wallet network from 720 million to 3 billion accounts since its Series B. Following the Series B funding round in May 2021, Thunes has also acquired the European payment methods platform Limonetik, as well as an AI-driven Anti-Money Laundering and Compliance technology leader Tookitaki to help reduce the cost of transferring money across borders for customers.
Last month, the firm also announced a partnership with Saudi Arabian digital bank D360 Bank to allow D360 Bank’s customers to make fast and secure cross-border remittances and B2B business payments, as well as to move money instantly to beneficiaries overseas using the D360 Bank’s app.
Caluwe added: “With the backing of our current investors, reinforced by Marshall Wace, Bessemer and 01Fintech, we will be able to further scale our capabilities, launch new solutions, open new segments and make the network even more robust, resilient and efficient. We will deepen our presence in strategic markets, including China, Latin America, Middle East, enabling a better payment experience for businesses and people around the world.”
