Fife fintech doubles target of crowdfund appeal as investors pour in cash

The crowdfunding effort, launched with platform Seedrs, saw Kirkcaldy-based PaySend aim to raise £4.26 million for a 3.3 per cent stake in the company valued at £125m at the start of the campaign.

However, investors have poured money into the fund which closed at £8.7m.

Founded less than two years ago, the company employs 100 technical staff in Moscow and 30 between its offices in London and John Smith Business Park in Kirkcaldy.

Ronald Millar, chief executive of PaySend, said he was “delighted” at the response to the fundraising campaign.

He said: “This gives us the ability to do more things and pursue our core work which is paying, holding and sending money – we are creating money for the future.

“For us, it is about having a product set that meets these, and we have effectively set out our stall for the next five to six months or so.”

The money will be used to fund international expansion, which will see partnerships developed with financial institutions across the globe, as well as adding strategic products to the company’s suite of services.

PaySend initially created a world-first system of transferring funds internationally via a mobile app that allows people to hold, move and spend multiple currencies by knowing a recipient’s 16-digit card number.

This was then developed further to transfer money overseas by knowing the recipient’s phone number.

Funds can be held in the wallet in different currencies and spent by using a physical PaySend card, which is backed by Mastercard.

The company also previously launched PaySend Link, where the recipient sees an incoming transfer and is able to direct it to a card or bank account of their choice and withdraw.

The company boasts 750,000 registered users and operates in more than 70 countries.

PaySend also recently launched its global accounts product, a way of holding multiple currencies digitally, with an accompanying physical Visa card that spends in the required currency.