Fintech firm Nium secures fresh funds from Visa, BRI Ventures

Singapore headquartered fintech startup Nium, previously known as InstaRem, has raised an undisclosed amount of capital in a growth funding round from financial services major Visa and BRI Ventures, the venture capital arm of Bank BRI in Indonesia.

Returning investors also participated in the round, the company said in a statement, without disclosing their identities.

The startup will use the capital for product development and to acquire companies for growth in specific markets, it said. 

“This is a round building on Nium’s Series C last year, raised primarily to welcome these prestigious strategic partners into the cap table,” the company told TechCircle in response to specific queries.

In March 2019, the company closed $40 million in a Series C round across two tranches, led by Temasek-backed Vertex Growth Fund, with participation from venture capital firms Atinum Investment in South Korea, MDI Ventures in Indonesia and Beacon Venture Capital in Thailand.

Nium was founded in 2014 by Indian-origin entrepreneur Prajit Nanu and Michael Bermingham as a cross-border remittance company. In 2019, the company rebranded itself as an ‘open money’ platform offering remittance-as-a-service for consumers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Its services include payroll disbursement, and travel and expenses management. 

The company is looking at “tuck-in” acquisitions to hasten time-to-market in Europe, India, the UK and the US, according to Nanu.

“We are interested in technology infrastructure players with capabilities in issuance, local payment rails, which complement our own and can help us ship faster in markets we are bullish on,” he said.

“Nium and Visa’s collaboration began in early 2019 when the former joined the Visa Fintech Fast Track programme in Asia Pacific. We’ve worked together on new commerce experiences like instant remittances for consumers and businesses in Southeast Asia,” Chris Clark, regional president for Asia Pacific at Visa, said.

Companies in the fintech space have witnessed continued early stage investor interest during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as well. 

Earlier this week, Pravega Ventures led a $2 million bridge round in online payment services provider for merchants, Mintoak. 

In April, small loans platform NIRA raised $2.1 million in a bridge round, dubbed as a ‘pre-Series A’ round. Merchant payments solution provider Fingpay also raised $3.5 million from IvyCap Ventures last month.