Despite the tough environment for funding, London-headquartered ALT21, which is focused on making hedging (strategy to protect from potential financial losses) solutions easy and accessible, has raised $21 million in pre-Series A funding. While the investor details remain undisclosed, this is one of the largest pre-series A funding rounds in Europe so far in 2023.
Boosts growth plans
The funding infusion will accelerate ALT21’s growth trajectory. The firm aims to diversify its pool of strategic partners, reaching a broader spectrum of SMEs. Plans include international expansion, and forging global partnerships. Moreover, ALT21 anticipates licensing its software to a wider array of fintechs and banks, empowering them to offer cost-effective FX services within their regulated operations.
Focusing on its growth, ALT21 has invested heavily in its platform since 2022. It has improved automation and user experience, its operating infrastructure and processes, and its team. Also, it has doubled its R&D headcount to 37 people, bringing the total headcount to 68.
Given the dominance of AI across industries, the company intends to invest in AI and machine learning to bridge the gap that exists between human interaction and trading apps for SMEs. This will bolster its products such as hedgucation suite of education modules.
End-to-end hedging platform
ALT21 is changing how people get currency protection with X Hedge, a cloud-based tool. Businesses can use it to sell protection against currency changes in over 30 types. This platform is approved by FCA and lets partners add simple protection to their own services. This helps SMEs guard against money risks easily and affordably. Partners make more money and give more to customers, leading to quicker and more profitable growth.
In 2022, this business generated over €8 million in operating income, a five-fold increase than the previous year.
Pritesh Ruparel, ALT21 CEO, commented: “I am really excited about the opportunity that lies ahead for ALT21. Our mission is to make things simple. We use technology to scale where others have added human capital, providing a highly automated service that cuts cost and complexity, and gives value back to small businesses at a time when they need it most.”
Richard Hayes, Chairman, added: “This latest funding round serves as further important external validation of ALT21’s strategy, execution and market opportunity. The last 12 months have been difficult for fintech businesses in a rising interest rate environment, but the team at ALT21 has continued to execute strongly, strengthening the robustness of its platform and operations and adding world-class new talent. I’m proud to chair a talented board who will support Prit in building a team that goes on to create a scalable world-class fintech.”
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