Buckzy has managed to secure $14.5m in a Series A funding round despite the market turmoil that has reduced fintech investments to a trickle this year. The Canadian payments startup will use the money to expand its growing ability to provide smooth cross-border transactions, but don’t compare it with its UK rival Wise even though they may look similar at a glance.
“We move money around the globe in real-time and faster, easier and more affordable than traditional financial institutions,” Buckzy CEO and founder Abdul Naushad tells Verdict.
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He adds that what makes the startup stand out from the crowd is that it offers financial institutions, other fintechs or money service businesses to use its network as their own white label or to come and build directly on our platform.”
“Our platform was built by developers for developers so that it is easy to connect with but also to build on top of,” Naushad continues. “We put the tech back into fintech and want to enable more fintechs and [financial institutions] to deliver innovative solutions to market in a faster, secure way.”
Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures led the funding round with participation from new investors Luge Capital and Blue 9 Capital, and existing investors Revel Partners. Buckzy declined to reveal its valuation following the funding round. Buckzy will also use the cash injection to keep hiring to its team of some 90 staff members.
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’s even talk about a recession. Across the sector, there are ample examples of firms laying off employees in droves and even imploding due to harsh market uncertainties.
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By GlobalDataFintech funding has not remained immune to the crunch. Investors have injected $78.4bn into the sector across 1,681 capital raises in 2022, according to research firm GlobalData. That’s down from $261.7bn across 2,923 rounds in 2021.
"Buckzy certainly was affected by this trend as well, but we were fortunate to already have great investors like Mistral, Uncorrelated and Revel Partners at our side, who see the progress we've made and continue to support us," Naushad says. "Our new investors, Luge and Blue 9 Capital, really understand the market and the payments space, so they too were excited about what we're building and see the rich potential ahead of us."
The backers are eager to back the optimism of that sentiment. "The cross-border payments market is approximately $150tn globally, and is still significantly underserved,” said Code Cubitt, managing director at Mistral Venture Partners. “Buckzy is blazing a path for a much better customer experience, more automation and lightning-fast payments. We are proud supporters of Buckzy’s impressive team, which has the right blend 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 whole of the 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.
