The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fintech firm raises funds for global ambitions
Start-up, which has an office in Kirkcaldy, raises $20m to develop tech
The founder of a Fife-based tech startup which seeks to disrupt the global payments industry has outlined his expansion plans after a $20 million funding round.
PaySend allows people to send money to people in more than 60 countries by just knowing the recipient’s name and 16-digit card number for a fixed fee of £1.
The start-up, which was founded 18 months ago, has an office at the John Smith Business Park in Kirkcaldy, its headquarters in London and a team of more than 50 software developers in Moscow.
Founder and CEO Ronald Millar said the investment would allow the 18-month old start up to develop a digital wallet application and also market its product worldwide.
Mr Millar, who also founded Kirkcaldy pay-TV firm Paywizard, said: “The funding round has expanded our funding base and gives us the ability to continue to expand the services we are building up.
“The global transfers business launched last year.
“We are the only people to offer a global card platform, which means people can send money from one credit or debit card to another credit or debit card. It completely removes the need for bank account numbers, sort codes or IBAN numbers.
“People talk about a switch to mobile but the pattern we have seen globally is that people switch to cards first of all.
“In developed economies pretty much 100% of people have cards.”
Mr Millar said he expected to launch PaySend’s digital wallet with associated smart card in the third quarter this year.
He said it would save customers significant sums on exchange rates and transaction fees.
He added: “The wallet can be loaded up with one currency and switched to another currency on the app.
“It’s also a physical card that we can issue thanks to our partnerships with Visa and Mastercard.
“It means that people get a much better exchange rate.
“They can also transfer money to someone else with a global account free of charge.
“It is very much in line with the expectations of modern consumers, who want to buy and exchange dollars, euros and pounds and easily convert them to crypto currencies within one app.
“With our smart card you can pay for goods and services in any country and withdraw cash from millions of ATMs worldwide.
“The investment is needed to deliver the technological infrastructure and drive the marketing.”