Thunes Secures $60 Million to Expand Global Payment Network

The digital payments landscape is characterized by significant fragmentation, with diverse online bank accounts, digital wallets, and money transfer platforms utilized across various nations. Singapore-based Thunes, a fintech company specializing in simplifying cross-border money transfers, recently announced the successful completion of a $60 million growth round. This funding was spearheaded by Insight Partners.

Investment Details and Previous Funding

Insight Partners, a prominent venture capital firm, is recognized for its collaborative approach with growth-stage companies and its support through the ScaleUp program. This latest investment round saw participation from existing shareholders.

Thunes previously secured $60 million in a Series B funding round in September 2020, led by Helios Investment Partners. Additional investors include GGV Capital and Checkout.com.

Thunes' Role in the Payment Ecosystem

Established in 2016, Thunes serves a diverse clientele including Grab, PayPal, MPesa, the Commercial Bank of Dubai, Western Union, Remitly, and NTUC Income, a Singaporean insurance provider.

The company’s technology functions similarly to the SWIFT system for commercial banks, acting as a central hub for online money transfers. It facilitates payments to recipients in different countries, regardless of their financial institution, digital wallet, or mobile money account.

For instance, Western Union leverages Thunes to enable money transfers into digital wallets and bank accounts. Thunes generates revenue through a fixed fee per transaction, alongside a small currency exchange charge. The company is regulated by both the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom.

Strategic Investor Focus and Expansion Plans

According to Chief Executive Officer Peter De Caluwe, Thunes prioritizes investors who can assist in navigating banking regulations and forging connections with potential clients in new markets.

Helios’ focus on African markets, for example, prompted Thunes to expand its teams in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia using funds from their investment. Similarly, GGV Capital, which led the Series A round, aided Thunes’ operations in China.

Unexpected Funding Round

Interestingly, Thunes wasn't actively seeking additional funding when Insight Partners expressed interest.

“It’s important to note that we hadn’t initially planned another funding round, but Insight was quite persistent,” De Caluwe explained. “Since September, we’ve more than doubled our workforce and revenues; everything has scaled significantly. Ultimately, we determined that securing additional funding from a robust investor like Insight was beneficial.”

Insight Partners' Expertise and Portfolio

Insight Partners’ portfolio includes well-known companies like Twitter and Shopify. Their ScaleUp program is dedicated to supporting high-growth software companies.

Recently, they became the first external investor in Octopus Deploy, a bootstrapped company, to accelerate its enterprise market growth over the next five to ten years.

Future Growth and Service Expansion

De Caluwe stated that Insight’s resources, including its extensive talent network, will support Thunes’ expansion into North and South America, bolster its engineering and product teams, and guide the development of new customer services.

Over the past six months, Thunes has doubled its team size from approximately 70 to 160 employees, including engineers based in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and China, and business development teams in Latin America and Africa.

Strategic Goals and Payment Collection

“This geographic expansion represents a crucial step forward for us,” De Caluwe commented. Insight can facilitate onboarding larger U.S. retailers and fintech companies, particularly those seeking to process payments from emerging markets.

“Our current objective is to enable a large U.S.-based retailer, service provider, or gaming company utilizing our platform to pay suppliers or partners in emerging markets to also receive payments through our API. Essentially, if you’re a U.S.-based entity, you can also collect payments, and we’ve been actively working towards this capability,” he added.

Industry Recognition and Future Outlook

In a press release, Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners, stated, “Thunes has developed a unique platform that delivers accessible, fast, and reliable payment solutions by taking an innovative approach to solving the challenges of a highly fragmented and complex payments ecosystem. We anticipate substantial growth as the company expands its infrastructure and we look forward to supporting their scaling efforts.”