Dublin based fintech currency options provider Assure Hedge has raised money for future expansion in a Series A funding round led by Irish stockbroker Davy.
The funding round, which raised €5.0 million values the business at €30.0 million.
Assure Hedge was founded in 2016 and was one of the success stories from the FCA’s sandbox initiative.
The company has offices in London and Portugal, as well as its home town of Dublin, and it has recruited an additional 15 staff members over the last year and intends to match or better that level of headcount expansion over the coming year.
The growth in headcount is being driven by growth in clients numbers, 2020 saw the firm’s customer base double in size despite or perhaps because of the pandemic.
Assure Hedge aims to make FX risk hedging affordable and efficient and its target market is SME’s, that’s small and medium-sized businesses that import or export goods or services, and who therefore face FX exposure.
Its believed that only 50% of businesses, with an annual turnover between €5.0 and €20.00 million, hedge their FX risk and that figure falls to 27% for those firms with a turnover of less than €5.0 per annum.
Assure Hedge makes the process of tackling FX risk and exposure far simpler through their EZFX product, bringing the process within the orbit of many more businesses.
Assure Hedge founder and chief executive Barry McCarthy said of the fundraising:
“This fundraising will support our continued rapid growth trajectory and provides us flexibility in when and how we engage with institutional investors.
He added that
“Given the response, we have had to date we are confident that we are still only scratching the surface of demand from SMEs looking for an easy way to manage foreign exchange exposure”
Assure hedge doesn’t have this space all to itself, for example, London listed FX Alpha, which has a market cap of £613.0 million and a roster of blue-chip investors, would be an obvious competitor.
However, FX is a multi-trillion dollar market and there is an opportunity for disruptors with innovative technology to carve out market share, and or, bring FX hedging and risk management to those businesses that have previously been underserved by banks and traditional brokers.
This fundraising round will no doubt bring Assure Hedge to the attention of other fintech and venture cap fund managers and if the company can maintain its growth trajectory, then they are likely to be able to raise more money from a bigger pool of investors further down the road.
For now, the company has a new product launch scheduled for later this year. One which is aimed at increasing Assure Hedge’s market access and which Chairman Richard Hayes believes will
“Create a virtuous circle of further growth”
Mr Hayes added that
“I’m optimistic that this is a business set to become another Irish fintech success story by using technology to democratise access to foreign exchange hedging.”
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