Modulr, a UK and Ireland-based fintech startup, announced that it has opened offices in Amsterdam as the springboard for its EU-wide expansion planned for 2022 and 2023.
Welcoming Modulr in the Netherlands, Hilde van der Meer, Commissioner of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency says, “This step shows once again that the Netherlands is a frontrunner in fintech innovation and a great place to build and scale financial businesses. Our welcoming and growing fintech ecosystem helps companies like Modulr to serve consumers and businesses across the European continent and beyond.”
After raising funds from FIS Ventures in April 2021, the company is rapidly expanding by investing in its EU operations and commercial teams. Currently, Modulr is operating in the EU, licensed by the Central Bank of Ireland, and passporting its Irish EMI license across the EEA. It is now expanding its European presence and applying for an EMI license from the Dutch Central Bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).
Expansion plans
Home to a vibrant fintech community, Modulr chose Amsterdam as its commercial, operational, and regulatory hub for accessing continental Europe.
The move comes as Modulr looks to expand into other key European markets, including Spain, France, and Germany. To enable this growth, the company is also expanding its European team across a number of functions such as product, compliance, and business development.
Speaking on the expansion, Myles Stephenson, founder & CEO of Modulr says, “Our mission is to remove all hidden payments inefficiencies and enable the next generation in global digital transformation – the shift towards embedded payments. Our expansion into the Netherlands and further into the continent next year will bring fast-tracked fintech to Europe – enabling EU businesses to leverage our license and embed our payments capabilities directly into their propositions so they can grow and service customers with confidence.”
Appointed Marca Wosoba
With this expansion, Modulr has already started to build its local Dutch team. It has begun hiring key team members in key continental European markets and plans to invest heavily in the region and product localisation. The company claims that the team in the Netherlands brings the expertise of not just real-time payments infrastructure to SEPA Instant, but also card issuing services and Open Banking propositions.
To spearhead Modulr’s Dutch entity and European expansion, the company had appointed the former head of international development at WorldFirst, Marca Wosoba, as General Manager.
Wosoba holds financial services leadership experience and technical expertise in new market entry, partnerships, strategic public & government affairs, regulatory licenses, Foreign Exchange, and payments. She also has rich international experience from Europe, China, India, and other Asian markets.
About Modulr
Modulr is a Payments-as-a-Service API platform for digital businesses that can integrate into any product or system. It enables digital businesses and software platforms across lending, banking, fintech, travel, employment services, and accounting to embed and build new payment products and services.
Recently, Modulr secured an electronic money institution (EMI) license from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI). The company also became a directly connected participant of the Bacs scheme, alongside direct participation in the Faster Payments scheme, enabling it to settle and hold funds at the Bank of England.
To date, Modulr has raised £63.3M (nearly €71.1M) including investment from PayPal Ventures, Highland Europe, Frog Capital, Blenheim Chalcot, and a £10M (approx €11.23) grant from the Capability and Innovation Fund.
The company has processed more than £40B (approx €44.29B) worth of payments for customers including Sage, Revolut, and Paxport through its platform.
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