Singapore-based payments fintech Nium has been busy expanding internationally as it seeks to put itself in the most favorable position possible ahead of a planned IPO in 2025. In recent months, Nium has expanded on multiple continents, from South America to different parts of Asia.
Nium’s expansion strategy shows its focus on remittances and the most promising markets for them. For instance, following UK-based Ebury’s acquisition of the Brazilian fintech Bexs in February, Nium and Ebury said that they would enable businesses to send or receive reliable and affordable cross-border payments to and from Brazil. Inbound remittances to Brazil rose 12.3% to US$4.96 billion last year. Brazil's digital payments market is projected to grow to a total transaction value of US$170 billion in 2024.
Also in February, Nium announced partnership with Enjaz Banking Services, the remittance division of Bank Albilad in Saudi Arabia. The Singapore-based company plans to work with the Saudi Arabian bank Nium to offer free international money transfer services through the Enjaz app for smart devices. This tie-up deepens Nium’s growing presence in the Middle East, which also includes partnerships with Mashreq Bank and three foreign exchange houses in the United Arab Emirates: Al Fardan Exchange, Alawneh Exchange, and Al Rostamani Exchange.
Additionally, Nium in February received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a prepaid payment instrument (PPI) license and a payment aggregator (PA) license. The PPI license will let Nium issue prefunded, pre-loaded cards for consumer and business applications inside India. The PA license, meanwhile, allows the company to offer merchant onboarding and acquiring services in the Indian market. Crucially, it allows Nium to link up with the paramount digital payments rail in India, United Payments Interface (UPI).
“These licenses make Nium a one-stop-shop for all payment needs in India,” Anupam Pahuja, the company’s general manager for the Asia Pacific region, Middle East and Africa, said in a press release.
It will be interesting to see how this flurry of expansion affects Nium’s profitability – which it wants to hit before going public – a and IPO timeline. Valued at about $2 billion, Nium is preparing to go public in the U.S. by the second quarter of 2025. In 2022, Nium more than doubled its revenue to US$82 million despite rising interest rates and high inflation. However, it is unclear if the company performed as well in 2023.