Investment will strengthen the reach and speed of the fintech firm’s innovative cross-border B2B payments

XX July 2020: Vitesse, the company providing real-time cross-border payments, today announced it has raised £6.6 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from existing shareholders including Hoxton Ventures and other angel investors.

With cross-border B2B exports expected to increase from $18T (USD) to $21T (USD) by 2023, Vitesse aims to continue building a market-leading global domestic settlement and liquidity management system to hold funds and execute cross-boarder payments.

An FCA-regulated company, Vitesse operates one of the largest domestic banking and payment networks in the world, giving its customers direct access to more than 100 countries’ domestic payment networks, covering over 60 currencies. Vitesse’s pioneering technology makes outbound payments faster and more reliable at a fraction of existing costs. To date, the company has processed over £2.1bn across almost 2.3 million
transactions.

With a focus on delivering to customers in the insurance, payroll and corporate payment space, the business aims to solve the complexities faced by each of these verticals when managing and making payments. Existing customers include the likes of global firms such as Brit Insurance, DXC Technology and Gett.

Vitesse has seen significant success within the insurance vertical and now works with over 60% of the Lloyds of London market. The technology provides the tools required to effectively manage and control monies (Loss Funds) held by a third-party administrator or broker on behalf of an insurer, as well as enabling real-time payments for insurance claim recipients. This provides the insurer with greater control and transparency of funds as well as reducing their costs around capital and claims settlement.

The £6.6 million investment will allow Vitesse to continue its rapid growth trajectory by building out sales and marketing functions and expanding its footprint in the U.S. market. It will also further strengthen the reach and speed of its banking capabilities in order to meet growing customer requirements as it expands globally.

Phillip McGriskin, CEO of Vitesse, commented:

“We are delighted to be working with Octopus Ventures to continue our growth path. The endorsement of one of Europe’s leading VCs provides hugely valued market validation to the work Vitesse has done and continues to do. Their crucial support will help us to keep driving
company expansion and continue to transform the payments market.
“Vitesse is re-defining the cross-border payments industry with the technological innovations we have developed over the past five years. We have revolutionised the way our insurance customers manage loss funds and settle claims and continue to position ourselves as the provider of choice for the insurance market. We are very excited to continue to work with the market to drive change and our expansion into the US market over the next few years will aid this”.

Malcolm Ferguson, Partner at Octopus Ventures, commented: “Innovation in payments on the B2C side over the last two decades has seen the establishment of some very large, generation defining companies. As is often the case however, innovation on the B2B side has lagged behind, leaving significant and untapped opportunities for disruption. We are excited to have the opportunity to support a team of serial entrepreneurs with such pedigree in the payments sector on their next project. Vitesse has already demonstrated impressive product-market fit in the insurance and payroll verticals – we believe they have only just scratched the surface.

“Vitesse is an exciting addition to our Future of Money portfolio and we are looking forward to joining them on this next phase of the journey”.

Sheel Sawhney, Group Head of Claims at Brit Insurance, a leading customer of Vitesse, commented:

“Our partnership with Vitesse enables Brit’s TPAs to make claims payments to policyholders at a lower transactional cost, while automatically providing real time visibility of payments and balances back to the Syndicate. Using Vitesse gives Brit a clear operational advantage by
positioning us to simplify and improve the framework designed to pay our customers quickly and makes the most effective use of the balances set aside to pay future claims.”

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Press Contact:

Lizzy Batchelor, Seven Hills
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About Vitesse

Vitesse has built a market-leading global domestic settlement and liquidity management system to hold funds and execute cross-border payments. Our technology makes outward-bound payments faster, more reliable and effective and at a fraction of existing costs.

As an FCA-regulated payments company, we operate one of the largest domestic banking and payment networks globally, giving our customers direct access to more than 100 countries’ domestic payment networks.
Vitesse brings the current banking platforms’ capability into the 21st century, truly benefiting our clients’ current payment and transaction banking arrangements. We are positioning ourselves to be the preferred supplier for the insurance market, to hold lossfunds and manage payments for the entire market.

Before starting Vitesse, co-founders Phillip McGriskin and Paul Townsend founded Envoy Services which was acquired by global payment processing company Worldpay in 2011. A number of the executive team worked with them at both Envoy Services and Worldpay. https://vitessepsp.com/
 
About Octopus Ventures

Octopus Ventures helps pioneers change the world. The pioneers we back dare to reimagine the future of health, money and deep tech. With £1.3 billion under management, Octopus Ventures is one of the largest VCs in Europe. Our typical investment is from £1 million for Seed to £10 million for Series B and we can follow our investment from a few hundred thousand right up to £25 million.

Our team is based in London and New York with Venture Partners in San Francisco, Singapore and China. The companies we back become a part of this network, with access to a formidable resource of experience and expertise.

Octopus Ventures has backed the founding teams of nearly 100 companies including Zoopla, Secret Escapes, Elvie, Depop, Sofar Sounds and Cazoo. Some of our portfolio companies have gone on to join forces with the world’s largest businesses including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter.
Our investment team is focused on the three areas we believe have the most potential to change the world for the better:

• Future of Health – Backing pioneers who are transforming the health industry from digital therapeutics through to biotechnology
• Future of Money – Backing pioneers who seek to vastly improve society’s ability to exchange and allocate financial resources and risk
• Deep Tech – Focusing on the tools and technologies that will power the next industrial revolution. These include quantum computing, robotics and drones, sensory human augmentation and 3D printing

About Octopus Group

Octopus is a group of innovative, entrepreneurial businesses investing in the people, ideas and industries that will help to change the world. We are experts in financial services and energy, and we care as much about the impact of our investments as the returns they generate. Today we manage more than £8.6* billion on behalf of retail and institutional investors. Our energy supply business is one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK,
reaching 1.5 million customers in just four years, and is the only supplier to be recommended by Which? three years in a row.

Octopus Energy, Octopus Investments, Octopus Renewables, Octopus Real Estate, Octopus Ventures, Octopus Wealth and Seccl Technology are all part of Octopus Group. Visit octopusgroup.com.

For journalists in their professional capacity only. Personal opinions may change and should not be seen as advice or a recommendation. We do not offer investment or tax advice. Issued by Octopus Investments. Octopus Ventures is part of Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No.