Buckzy raises $14.5 million in Series A despite fintech funding famine
Buckzy has managed to secure $14.5 million in a Series A funding round despite the market turmoil that has reduced fintech investment to a trickle this year. The Canadian payments startup will use the money to expand its growing ability to offer smooth cross-border transactions, but don’t compare it to its UK rival Wise, even though they may look similar at a glance.
“We move money around the world in real time and faster, easier and cheaper than traditional financial institutions,” says Buckzy CEO and founder Abdul Naushad. Verdict.
He adds that what makes the startup stand out from the crowd is that it offers financial institutions, other fintechs or money services companies to use its network as its own white label or to come and build directly on our platform.”
“Our platform was built by developers for developers so it’s easy to connect to but also build on top of,” continues Naushad. “We are putting the technology back into fintech and want to enable more fintechs and [financial institutions] to deliver innovative solutions to the market in a faster and safer way.”
Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures led the financing round with participation from new investors Luge Capital and Blue 9 Capital, and existing investors Revel Partners. Buckzy declined to disclose its valuation after the funding round. Buckzy will also use the cash injection to continue hiring its team of around 90 employees.
Buckzy bags funding when others falter
The fact that Buckzy has secured funding and continues to hire stands in stark contrast to the overall fintech industry. The market has turned sour this year. Interest rates have skyrocketed and there is even talk of a recession. Across the sector, there are many examples of firms laying off staff en masse and even imploding due to severe market uncertainty.
Fintech funding has not been immune to the crisis. Investors have pumped $78.4 billion into the sector across 1,681 capital raisings in 2022, according to research firm GlobalData. That’s down from $261.7 billion over 2,923 rounds in 2021.
“Buckzy was certainly affected by this trend as well, but we were fortunate to already have great investors like Mistral, Uncorrelated and Revel Partners on our side, who see the progress we’ve made and continue to support us,” says Naushad. “Our new investors, Luge and Blue 9 Capital, really understand the market and the payments space, so they were also excited about what we’re building and see the rich potential that lies ahead.”
The supporters are eager to support the optimism of that sentiment. “The cross-border payments market is around $150 billion globally, and remains significantly underserved,” said Code Cubitt, CEO of Mistral Venture Partners. “Buckzy paves the way for a much better customer experience, more automation and lightning fast We are proud supporters of Buckzy’s impressive team, who have the right mix of experience, expertise and insight to build the next generation of cross-border payments.”
The Buckzy payment network currently disburses funds to over 80 countries, including the UK, India, the entire EU, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and many more. The company recently expanded its network in Latin America, covering Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Uruguay.
GlobalData is the parent company of Verdict and its sister publications.
