- Amsterdam office marks company expansion plans for Europe
- Azimo joins other UK fintechs in choosing innovation-friendly Dutch capital
- Move follows the launch of new business offering “Azimo Business”
It’s been an eventful few days for digital international money transfer firm Azimo: hot on the heels of its announcement last week that it was launching a new payments service aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, it has just announced that it’s expanding its money transfer services further into Europe with the opening of a new office in Amsterdam.
Currently based in London and Krakow, Azimo reports that the Amsterdam expansion will help boost its share of the global cross-border payments market. The startup, which specialises in cheap money transfer online services for people wishing to send money abroad, also revealed that several other UK-headquartered fintech startups had also opened offices in the Dutch capital.
Commenting on the development, Azimo CEO Michael Kent said: “The Netherlands has a thriving fintech sector with an ecosystem that makes it easier to grow our European business than anywhere else outside London. Amsterdam is a great capital that attracts talent from all over the world, while the Dutch Central bank is a strong regulator that is receptive to innovation and new business models and already supervises numerous payments institutions. It is an excellent place for us to continue our expansion in Europe.”
Founded in 2012, Azimo has billed itself from the outset as a better way of transferring money worldwide, especially for migrants from underserved, developing markets who want to send money home. It offers a rapid, secure and straightforward means of making cross-border payments which users can access online or via smartphones. Kent went on to note that the firm was set up with the “explicit mission” of lowering the cost of sending money home.
He said that the Amsterdam office would grow as Azimo’s European business continues to expand. Currently, the firm facilitates international money transfers from more than 80 countries to over 200 countries. Its services can reach in excess of five billion potential customers. Payout methods on offer are multiple, including bank-deposit, cash pick-up and transfer into a mobile wallet. Currently, the firm is providing money transfer services to over 1.5 million registered customer across the world.
As noted earlier, the Amsterdam move follows another innovation: whereas the company has focused so far on consumer cross-border payments, it announced last week that it was stepping into the business space with the launch of Azimo Business on 19th October.
The new service allows SMEs to transfer money to employees and suppliers in 189 different markets across the world – all of which will be at least 75% less expensive than the money transfer services on offer from the banks. It also allows SMEs to make investments.
Kent explained that businesses had been testing the new offering since its beta rollout earlier this year. The feedback, he said, has been “fantastic”. Since the original launch, Azimo has pared its fees down further and added new geographic markets while streamlining its onboarding process.
Azimo’s Chief Product Officer, Dan Martens, cited company research showing that business owners were extremely frustrated by the apps on offer from the banks. Most contemporary entrepreneurs, he added, aren’t stuck in front of their laptops. “They like to be able to send money in seconds, from the palm of their hand”, he said.
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