The recent Brexit vote and US election meant CurrencyFair was open overnight while most markets slept. Image: SergeyP/Shutterstock
Dublin-based fintech player CurrencyFair has appointed a new CEO and raised €8m, bringing the total raised by the company so far to €28m.
A former Siliconrepublic.com start-up of the week, CurrencyFair was founded in 2010 and has surpassed the $1bn barrier in terms of money-matching services.
Last October, it announced 50 new jobs at its Ballsbridge headquarters in Dublin. The company now employs around 100 people.
‘CurrencyFair demonstrated the scalability and power of its unique peer-to-peer currency exchange during the Brexit result volatility, where CurrencyFair stayed open while many major competitors closed’
– PAUL BYRNE
The latest round was lead by existing investors Octopus Ventures and Frontline Ventures.
Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com at the Web Summit in Lisbon, CurrencyFair founder and chief strategy officer Brett Meyers explained that the funding round coincides with the appointment of a new CEO, a new CFO and a new CPO.
“This frees me to focus on things that are important for the business and the services we provide,” Meyers said.
Scaling up to meet global currency volatility
Paul Byrne, who has over 15 years of experience with three successful software businesses, is joining the company as the new CEO.
Previously, Byrne was the owner and CEO of Trintech. There, he launched and grew Cadency, a SaaS financial product, to nearly 200,000 paid users globally over four years, before selling the company in 2015 and relocating full time to Ireland. Prior to Cadency, he started and then sold Concuity, a healthcare software company, whose revenue grew 10-fold over two years.
Ruth Fletcher has also agreed to join CurrencyFair as chief financial officer with Sylvie McDermott taking the role of chief product officer.
Fletcher co-led the spin-out of Fenergo from Ergo, and the subsequent recapitalisation by Insight Venture Partners and Aquiline Capital Partners for €85m in 2015.
A former group product director at Betfair, McDermott has developed deep domain expertise in mobile and online product development.
“CurrencyFair demonstrated the scalability and power of its unique peer-to-peer currency exchange during the Brexit result volatility, where CurrencyFair stayed open while many major competitors closed,” Byrne said.
“Continued global currency volatility, as the US election result just demonstrated, will drive continued growth for CurrencyFair, as consumers and businesses take a more proactive role in seeking more transparent lower cost currency exchange alternatives.”
