Payment startup Thunes closes $10m Series A funding round

Emerging economies payment start-up Thunes has completed a $10m (£7.64m) Series A funding round led by Alibaba and Airbnb investor GGV Capital.

The funding will be used to expand Singapore-headquartered Thunes across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

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Thunes will also add to its existing regional presence in London, Dubai and Miami by opening new offices in San Francisco, Paris and a second branch in Dubai.

“We are extremely proud and excited to have a top VC like GGV Capital recognise our vision and potential,” Thunes executive chairman Peter De Caluwe said.

“We’ve hired a very experienced chief executive Steve Vickers to lead Thunes’ global expansion and take the business to the next level. This funding allows us to accelerate our company mission and we are all excited for the year ahead.”

The company currently has a network covering 80 countries with more than 9,000 payout partners and offers four payment solutions, including peer-to-peer remittance processing, corporate mass payouts, B2B payments and digital payment services.

Thunes completes more than 300,000 transactions per day on average and processes more than $3bn a year, the company said.

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GGV Capital managing partner Jenny Lee said: “We pride ourselves in the long-term success of the companies we invest in, and we were attracted by Thunes because we are aligned with their mission and see a lot of growth potential in this business.

“This is a great business, with a fantastic growth record, and we look forward to their next chapter.”