XTransfer, China's leading one-stop cross-border financial and risk management services provider, has raised US$138 million from its Series D funding round.
The latest round was led by D1 Capital Partners, with existing shareholders also participating.
XTransfer will use proceeds from this round to further upgrade its products and services, continue investing in big data and artificial intelligence, bolster its anti-money laundering (AML) risk management system and attract global talent to fuel its expansion to overseas markets.
Since its inception in May 2017, XTransfer has completed multiple funding rounds by reputable global investors. Its financial backers include Yunqi Partners, Gaorong Capital, 01 Capital, eWTP Capital, Telstra Ventures, MindWorks Capital and Lavender Hill Capital Partners (LHCP).
Headquartered in Shanghai, XTransfer has offices in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia and Singapore. It specializes in business-to-business (B2B) cross-border financial services, and to date has a client base of approximately 150,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The company's Series D funding round came as China's exports bounced back to record highs in the first eight months of this year. As foreign trade steadily gathers momentum, exports during this period surged 23.2 percent, the fastest pace of increase over the past decade.
Booming cross-border e-commerce has also had a far-reaching impact on B2B trade. Cross-border e-commerce has a clear advantage in helping SMEs do business globally, enhance supply chain efficiency and create jobs, says Wei Jianguo, deputy director of China Center for International Economic Exchanges and former vice minister of commerce.
He adds that in the next one to two years, Chinese imports and exports will continue to grow at double-digit rates, and that emerging digital trade platforms such as cross-border B2B e-commerce will also grow quickly.
On their journey to go global, SMEs face the daunting challenge of getting access to traditional banking services. In the realm of B2B trade, exporters tend to be smaller and sell a variety of goods, resulting in a deeply fragmented cross-border payment landscape and more frequent transactions. The tightening of AML rules across the world in recent years has further restricted SMEs' access to banking services.
Through collaboration with top-tier international banks and financial institutions, XTransfer has established a multi-currency, globally unified financial settlement network. It has built a data-driven, automated, Internet-enabled and intelligent AML infrastructure tailored to the needs of SMEs. New export-related financial services like XTransfer's can close the gap between supply and demand.
XTransfer provides SMEs with cross-border financial services on par with those available to multinational corporations. This is done while meeting banks' AML and compliance requirements. Such services include free, swift opening of collection accounts, currency exchange and FX settlement, supplying smaller B2B-focused exporters with safe, stable and cost-efficient services.
Bill Deng, founder and chief executive of XTransfer, says, "cross-border e-commerce is growing by leaps and bounds due to policy support. For exporters, the latest round of overseas expansion has been a lot different from a few years earlier, marked by diverse sales channels and fragmented orders. Digitization is a major trend amid cut-throat market competition. We will keep promoting the digitization of export and aid the sector's digital transformation. By doing so, we have commanded increased trust of our clients through our service. The current round of funding is only the beginning of our quest to offer better services to more customers."
Ray Bao, Partner at D1 Capital Partners, the lead investor in the Series D round, notes: "We believe XTransfer's services are a critically-needed addition to the global trade finance ecosystem. In the next decade, we expect they will be able to serve SMEs from around the world and will be an important financial infrastructure company in global cross-border trade."
Mao Chengyu, founding partner at Yunqi Partners, says that "cross-border B2B trade is highly fragmented and awash with smaller players. Levels of digitization and penetration of e-commerce are at an initial stage. We expect a super-app to connect all stakeholders on a mega-platform. As XTransfer's first investor, I have faith in and bet big on payments as well as the leading role risk management plays in this sector."
Company Name:XTransfer
Contact Person:Xiaoyi Wang
Email:xiaoyi.wang@xtransfer.cn
Country:China
City:Shanghai
Website:https://www.xtransfer.cn/