Peer-to-peer deliverable FX firm Currencyfair, founded in 2010 in Dublin by Brett Myers, Jonathan Potter, David Christian and Sean Barnett has undergone a rapid growth period, expanding its operations to a headcount of 50 staff.
The firm is now poised to take its next step, with plans to raise 10 million Euros to expand its presence across Britain and Australia.
According to a report by the Irish Independent, the firm is seeking investors who will participate in the funding.
The ethos of the firm is the lowering of commission in transferring currency. Currencyfair does this by adopting a peer-to-peer approach, which cuts out the middleman in foreign exchange transactions.
Money is never actually transferred internationally; instead it is deducted from Currencyfair’s pool of cash in whatever region the customer is seeking. The company claims to cut international transfer fees by up to 90%, charging an average commission of 0.3pc of the total amount being exchanged whereas the majority of banks charge a 3% commission, based on estimates by Currencyfair.
Currencyfair has changed €1.7bn for customers since its launch five years ago, and should it enter Australia, it will be entering the realms of some large firms which operate in this sector such as OzForex, which issued an initial public offering in mid 2013 valuing the firm at AUD439 million.