Volume, the payments fintech startup transforming online payments with account-to-account (A2A) technology, has raised $6 million in a round led by United Ventures, with participation from Fabrick, the open finance platform part of the Sella Group, and existing investors Firstminute Capital, SeedX and Haatch, who doubled down on their support. Having found product-market fit and processing over $126 million in annualized Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in under eight months, Volume is now focused on scaling its operations across the UK and Europe, continuing its mission to eliminate payment fees for businesses and consumers alike.
Companies using traditional payment companies such as PayPal, Apple Pay and Stripe for payments face transaction fees ranging from 2% to 8%, costs often passed on to end users. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are especially impacted, as larger players get better deals from providers like Visa and Mastercard. While account-to-account (A2A) payments can eliminate these fees, adoption by end-users has been slow due to technical integration challenges, consumer loyalty to card-based methods, and the need to offer essential services like refunds and multi-currency support. The potential to shift from debit card payments, currently generating $17.84 trillion in global GMV, to real-time payment networks is huge. But so far, only $525 billion in GMV has been processed through A2A payments, leaving significant room for growth.
Volume’s solution solves these challenges by providing a one-click checkout connected to every bank worldwide, removing complexity with a best-in-class user experience. Volume’s embeddable widget requires just five lines of code to integrate, making onboarding faster and more seamless for platforms and businesses, including Know Your Business (KYB) processes, making it easier for businesses to adopt. For users, it provides an intuitive and secure payment process, addressing key pain points for both platforms and consumers. This results in significant cost savings for merchants and, ultimately, customers alike.
Simone Martinelli, founder and CEO of Volume, said: “Open banking has laid the groundwork to reduce payment costs by creating the necessary conditions, but most A2A payment companies haven’t been able to leverage this potential. At Volume, we’ve cracked the problem. We’re solving the adoption challenges of account-to-account payments by focusing on the user experience for both businesses and consumers, offering a faster, more secure solution that puts both parties first. Our traction shows that pay-by-bank can be a scalable business model, and we’re close to profitability with a clear product-market fit in cross-border payments. Like Stripe did with the shift from cash to card, we’re leading the transition from debit cards to bank payments in open banking, while growing sustainably. If widely adopted, Volume could save businesses up to $44 billion per year.”
Volume’s technology provides a seamless and instant payment experience for platforms and users. By integrating with Volume, users can pay directly from their bank accounts on any device, with the entire process completed in under one second. Leveraging open banking rails through its infrastructure partner, Yapily, Volume connects with thousands of banks, enabling instant account-to-account (A2A) payments. Using biometric authentication via the user’s banking app, payments are securely finalized without the need for cards, user IDs, or passwords. Volume’s low, flat-rate pricing model eliminates costly intermediaries and simplifies payment processing, making it faster and significantly cheaper than traditional methods.
Paolo Gesess, Founder & Managing Partner at United Ventures, said: “Volume stands out not only because of the exceptional leadership from Simone and Chris, but also because of the top-tier hires they’ve made, bringing in deep expertise across the fintech and payments landscape. Their ability to grow GMV by 163x over the past year validates the enormous opportunity ahead. While some players in the space have encountered bottlenecks, Volume’s combination of a strong team and cutting-edge technology positions them to scale sustainably. We see tremendous potential for Volume to reshape how transactions are handled globally.”
Volume has recently brought in key industry leaders to drive growth. Justin Sebok, formerly Head of Product at Curve, has joined to enhance product and operations. Richard Frenken, who played a pivotal role in iZettle’s $2.2 billion acquisition by PayPal, is now VP of Revenue, bringing deep expertise in scaling PayPal’s business within the SME sector. On the compliance front, Shannon Krishna has joined after leading compliance efforts at WorldRemit and Luno, further strengthening Volume’s regulatory capabilities.
Having found product-market fit and established a strong management team, Volume is on the path to profitability and aiming to obtain FCA regulation in the UK, with plans for European expansion through a new license. The funding will support scaling operations across the UK and Europe, while positioning Volume to leverage potential opportunities that may arise if regulators succeed in opening access to NFC technology currently controlled by Apple.
Read the orginal article: https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/funding/volume-raises-6-million-to-drive-payment-fees-to-zero-challenge-dominance-of-paypal-apple-pay-and-stripe/
