London-based startup CurrencyCloud builds remittance APIs for money transfer businesses.

It’s software you are never likely to see. It works in the background when you make a money transfer across borders. CurrencyCloud builds these APIs (as the software is called), and more than 350 companies were using it as at end-2019.

The startup’s collection of 85 APIs has helped to transfer more than $80 billion between 180 countries, according to TechCrunch.

The startup’s business has benefited from the rising trend in the volume and scale of international remittances, fueled by the internet and smartphones.

Phone users are now using their internet-enabled phones to do most everyday banking, including remittances. Challenger banks such as Monzo, Moneze, Starling, Revolut and Dwolla have helped to boost this new trend – and they are all CurrencyCloud customers.

“We call the segment embedded finance,” Currencycloud CEO Mike Laven told CNBC in an interview. “We’re probably the most important business that you’ve never heard of. But that’s conscientious on our part. We do not have a strategy where we compete with our customers.”

Investment from crème-de-la-crème

In the current round of financing, CurrencyCloud received investments from Visa, the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, French bank BNP Paribas, the Japanese SBI Group, and Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank.

Existing investors such as Sapphire Ventures, Notion Capital, GV (previously known as Google Ventures), Accomplice and Anthemis are also participating.

CurrencyCloud did not disclose the valuation.

However, according to reliable sources, the valuation for the round was about $500 million, TechCrunch said.

Visa, a strategic investor in the latest round, also uses CurrencyCloud services in its business. Visa recently acquired Plaid, which builds API software to link up banking accounts with fintech apps.

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