FX Services Provider iBanFirst Secures €15 Million in Funding

iBanFirst, a French startup that provides foreign exchange (FX) services, announced on Thursday that it has secured €15 million ($17 million) in funding. This comes from a long-standing investor as well as venture capital funds Serena, which led the funding round, and Breega.

The injection of cash comes two years after the company first raised €10 million in funds from Xaviel Niel. With the most recent funding, iBanFirst plans to invest in research and development, launch new services and increase its presence globally.

What is iBanFirst?

So what does iBanFirst do? Well, the firm aims to solve a very specific problem for companies - making currency conversion as easy as possible. This is especially useful for firms that have suppliers across the world and need to pay invoices in different currencies.

iBanFirst allows its customers to send money from their corporate account to their iBanFirst account. Here, they can convert and hold funds in 28 currencies. The company shows its customers the interbank exchange rate and how many fees they’ll incur, with the company stating its customers save up to 70 percent in Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest tradi Read this Term costs.

Commenting on the cash injection, Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier, the Founder of iBanFirst said: "with these new funds raised, the favourable context under PSD2, current Market Depth Market Depth Market Depth is a characteristic of a given market and its ability to handle large order sizes without materially affecting the price of the underlying asset or currency pair. Broad-based definitions of market depth characterize it as a function of liquidity and trading volume.In its most simplistic sense, market depth reflects a real-time list displaying the quantity to be sold versus unit price. This in turn is organized by price level and is reflective of real-time market activity. In theory, Market Depth is a characteristic of a given market and its ability to handle large order sizes without materially affecting the price of the underlying asset or currency pair. Broad-based definitions of market depth characterize it as a function of liquidity and trading volume.In its most simplistic sense, market depth reflects a real-time list displaying the quantity to be sold versus unit price. This in turn is organized by price level and is reflective of real-time market activity. In theory, Read this Term and cumulative data from 2500 clients and 20,000 suppliers worldwide, our potential for expansion is enormous."

“Our ambition is to constantly develop our platform with new services. We started in 2018 with our online hedging offer, guaranteeing a currency exchange rate, personalised IBANs, aggregation of external accounts, payment tracking with Swift GPI, etc… In the near future, we will provide access to new currencies, debt financing, cash investments and even more sophisticated forward exchange solutions."

The company was established in 2013, originally as FX4BIZ, before changing its name in 2016. The company caters to clients who transfer a minimum of €100,000 per year. At present, it has 100 employees and more than 2,000 clients.