Ireland’s B2B card payments Fintech CleverCards has finalized a €10 million funding round. The company has also acquired a European Money Institution license via the acquisition of spend management service provider, ExpendiaSmart.
Since introducing its payments platform back in December 2019, CleverCards has managed to attract more than 5,000 businesses to its service.
CleverCards is now focused on expanding its line of products and services via an acquisition / roll-up strategy that will aim to cover the complete B2B payments chain, starting with the purchase of Italy-based ExpendiaSmart. It should allow large businesses and enterprises to effectively manage their expenses using its spend management and smart corporate cards.
CleverCards is now planning to secure an additional €50 million in capital in order to support its ongoing growth and development. The company’s latest investment round included contributions from ex- PayPal executive Gareth Lambe, who is now working as Head of Facebook Ireland and is also serving as board member of WhatsApp/Facebook payments.
Kealan Lennon, CleverCards Founder & CEO, stated:
“Sharing our obsessive focus on customer and user needs, the ExpendiaSmart team have built a solid business by earning the trust of large enterprise customers across many industries. The CleverCards platform will empower ExpendiaSmart customers to accelerate their digital transformation. With CleverCards, Businesses, Governments and Public sector organizations simply send a digital prepaid Mastercard to an email address or mobile phone number by SMS or WhatsApp, enabling anyone, anywhere, anytime, to be paid instantly.”
Lennon added:
“This makes it possible for recipients to spend online, or use their mobile in-store contactlessly using Google Pay, Samsung Pay or Apple Pay immediately. I am excited to welcome the outstanding ExpendiaSmart team.”
Acquisitions are a key driver of CleverCards’ business strategy and goal to become the “ubiquitous” global payments platform. The company notes that Europe represents a “fragmented” market in Spend Management Solutions and Smart Corporate Cards, and “consolidation represents a great opportunity for a buy and build strategy which CleverCards believes will enhance solutions for its customers.”
As confirmed by the Fintech firm, “subject to regulatory approval, the addition of the Licensed Electronic Money Institution to the CleverCards group will boost its speed and agility in serving these markets and customers across Europe.”
Since launching its payments platform, the Fintech has managed to grow steadily, working with more than 5,000 businesses. In February 2021, Mastercard and CleverCards teamed up in order to expand the usage of digital cards across Europe.