TransferMate, the global cross-border B2B payments provider, has secured €30 million in investment from AIB for what is described as ‘small minority equity ownership’ stake in the company.

TransferMate and AIB have also agreed to a strategic partnership focused on providing Irish businesses with ‘world-leading international payments and receivables capabilities’.

TransferMate says the collaboration aims to decrease international payments costs for AIB business customers, improve cashflow for businesses with international supply chains and customers and enhance payments transparency through a technology enabled platform. TransferMate was advised by Perella Weinberg Partners LP and A&L Goodbody, while AIB took counsel from Arthur Cox and EY.

Post-Brexit, TransferMate will become the only EU payment institution regulated throughout the EU and United States. The company recently appointed Gary Conroy, the former MD of Realex Payments, as Chief Commercial Officer, and Rafael de la Vega, former Director of Global Partnerships at Intuit in Silicon Valley, as North American Board advisor.

TransferMate was co-founded by CEO Terry Clune (pictured) in 2010 with the mission of providing businesses with a faster, cheaper and easier solution for sending or receiving funds globally. To date, $10 billion has been sent to over 100 countries through TransferMate’s platform by businesses. The system is designed to integrate with accounting packages such as their back-end accounting systems including Intuit, MYOB, Sage, Netsuite, SAPB1, SAPR3 and Xero.

In Association with

Clune commented: “B2B payments represent 98% of the $138 trillion of currencies traded annually cross-border. TransferMate has built a unique technology platform and we are delighted to welcome AIB as an investor and partner.  With this investment we will expand our commercial teams across the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe, whilst growing our head office, commercial and technology functions in Ireland. This partnership is a great example of how a leading bank and a fintech company can work together to improve their customers’ experiences.”

Unique Technology

Co-founder Sinead Fitzmaurice added: “We have spent a significant amount of our own capital building unique technology, infrastructure and global regulatory footprint.  Providing a unified technology platform for exporters to electronically send their invoices across the globe, whilst providing the functionality to collect those funds domestically, dramatically improves customer experience for exporting companies and their importing customers. We are immensely proud to announce our first banking collaboration in our home market.”

Interpay Ltd, the TransferMate operating company, reported a gross profit of €8m in 2015, up from €7.2m the year before. The company booked an operating loss of €117,000 as shareholders were paid €432,000 in dividends, the same as the previous year.

According the September 2016 annual return of Interpay Ltd, prior to the AIB deal (effected in August 2017) Clune spoke for 77% and the equity and co-founder Barry Dowling owned 23%. Dowling sold his shares in Interpay and Transfermate back to the business and exited the venture on 4 August 2017. Transfermate and Interpay are ultimately controlled by Clune through The Taxback Group, an unlimited entity.

Taxback International, which specialises in VAT recovery, plans to expand operations in the coming year by hiring 80 additional staff at its Kilkenny HQ. Recruitment is ongoing for graduates and senior-level executives in the areas of sales and marketing and R&D. Taxback Group currently employs over 1,200 people globally. Pictured below with Terry Clune are minister Pat Breen (centre) and Catherine Quirke, chief commercial officer of Taxback International

Pic: Michael Donnelly