Fintech Modulr lands £14m to turbocharge growth

Modulr is targeting 'a global opportunity' in the digital business-to-business payments market.

The fintech has secured £14 million in scale-up funding to accelerate development of its payments platform, expand into new markets and boost headcount across its offices, including its Edinburgh hub.

Modulr, whose digital accounts provide an alternative to traditional bank accounts for business payments, is targeting “a global opportunity” following a recent report by Juniper Research, which estimated business-to-business transactions processed by pureplay digital operators will surpass $14tn by 2023.

The total value of payments in and out of Modulr’s platform since the start of 2017 exceeded the £10 billion milestone this month.

On the back of the new capital, the fintech is aiming to increase the speed at which new payment types and functionalities are added to its platform, target new sectors and grow its presence in existing fields such as alternative lending, accounting platforms and the travel industry.

It is also eyeing expansion into Europe, having recently established an office in Dublin to use as a springboard into the market.

Led by specialist software investor Frog Capital, with support from existing backer Blenheim Chalcot, the fresh funding boost takes total investment in the company to £24.5m since its formation in January 2016.

The London-based business established an Edinburgh base in September, pointing to the Scottish capital’s “excellent” talent pool and position as the UK’s second largest financial services centre.

Myles Stephenson, chief executive at Modulr, said: “We’re extremely pleased to have completed our latest funding round, led by Frog Capital, and to have found a likeminded investor to work closely with the leadership team and our existing lead investor, Blenheim Chalcot, to pursue the significant global opportunity for our business.

“We’ve rapidly demonstrated the size of the market opportunity having processed more than £10bn of payments through the platform in our first two full years of operation.

“The investment allows us to take the next step in pursuing our vision to become the world’s leading digital alternative for commercial & wholesale payments.”

Rob Devey, chair and senior non-executive director at Modulr and advisory partner at Blenheim Chalcot, said: “We are delighted to have Frog onboard and we are greatly looking forward to working together to capture the massive opportunity that lies ahead.”

Modulr unveiled major partnerships earlier this year with travel payments specialist Paxport and cloud accounting and payroll service provider Sage to provide a full range of business-to-business payment services.