Nium Raises $50M, Valuation Drops Amid Fintech Market Decline

Singapore-headquartered cross-border payments firm Nium has raised $50 million in a new funding round, reflecting a 30% discount from its previous valuation.

Nium’s latest $50 million Series E funding round was led by an undisclosed Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund. The funding, supported by venture capital firms like BOND, NewView Capital, and Tribe Capital, values the Singapore-based company at $1.4 billion, down from $2 billion in 2022.

The funds will be used to accelerate Nium’s growth plans, including global network expansion, product innovation, staff expansion, and pursuing mergers and acquisitions. “Our investors believe in our long-term mission of building the payments infrastructure for on-demand money movement, and this additional investment will allow us to accelerate our aspirations,” said Nium CEO Prajit Nanu.

In a commentary to CNBC, Nanu acknowledged the decreased valuation, attributing the decline to a “broader depression in public market valuations of fintech companies.” He noted, “When we raised in early 2022, public markets were performing well. The public markets have not been kind to fintech.”

“Being realistic, when we raised in early 2022, public markets were killing it. The public markets have not been kind to fintech.”

Despite the reduced valuation, Nium remains committed to its plans of going public next year. Although these plans weren’t mentioned in the official announcement, Nanu told CNBC that he is optimistic about Nium’s growth and confident that the company will go public within the next 18 months, targeting an IPO in Q3-Q4 of 2025.

“Whether you go public at $1 billion, $5 billion, it doesn’t matter. Because the valuation is only when you get bought, or when you go through an IPO.”

Founded in 2014 by Prajit Nanu and Michael Bermingham, Nium is a cross-border remittances platform for overseas money transfers offering close-to-live exchange rates. In early 2018, Nium partnered with Ripple to use the company’s RippleNet solution to offer payment corridors from North and South America into several destinations in Southeast Asia.

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