admin June 9, 2021

Thunes is poised for massive growth

Tech investor Insight Partners backs Thunes as we continue to power payments for the world’s fastest-growing businesses.

By Peter De Caluwe, CEO, Thunes

Six months ago Thunes further strengthened our place as a leader in the fast-evolving cross-border payments landscape. There was significant interest in our Series B funding round and we took our time in selecting the right partner, with Africa-focused investor Helios leading the US$60 million investment last year. 

As a Singapore-based fintech company that connects payment players in more than 100 countries and with a team of 40 nationalities, we are a truly global company. In just four years, Thunes, which is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, has seen tremendous growth. Our platform bridges the gap between different levels of technologies and regulatory ecosystems, making them compatible and interoperable. With a single, simple connection, any business and its customers can send payments to – and get paid in – every corner of the world. Instantly. 

If you’d told me that we’d announce another US$60 million backing from one of the world’s leading tech investors a few months later, I’d have asked why. 

We had no plans to raise additional funds; we were using our Series B funding well to expand our engineering and product teams, investing in technology and delivering exceptional numbers. We were on the right track.

But there was one question that kept coming up. We started asking, “What support do we need if we think even bigger than what we’re already doing? And which investor could we partner with to help us reach our long-term vision faster?” 

Enter Insight Partners 

As one of the world’s most respected tech investors, Insight Partners (IP) has a reputation for partnering with true market disruptors and helping maximise their scale.

In addition to a US$60 million investment, what Insight Partners brings to Thunes is experience and structures that are designed to support rapid scaling up on a massive scale and has extensive footprints and relationships in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, all important markets for us.  

As our network has grown and gained traction – we’ve seen 100-150% year-on-year increase in transaction volumes on our network, grown our network by 40 partners and doubled our staff complement. We’ve launched extra services, new projects, signed new partners and attracted senior executive, engineering and product talent. Projects I’ve enjoyed seeing come to life include the Thunes Business Hub, which allows businesses to sign up and start paying suppliers instantly. We’ve also launched an auto-onboarding system for customers and launched a proprietary provisioning system internally. 

In my opinion, we are one of the most dynamic tech companies headquartered in Singapore and I am truly excited to see what we achieve in the coming years. Currently, we estimate the value of cross-border payments is around US$50 trillion. Thunes is focusing on the part of the system that we believe is broken and that we can make more efficient. Real-time payments for smaller value transactions ranging from US$5 up to US$25,000 is where we play. With an addressable market of US$10-15 trillion, we are already leading the trend here.

Now it’s just a matter of scaling what we already do faster and bigger – what an incredible opportunity.