Payments technology company mx51 has successfully raised $32.5 million in a Series B round led by an undisclosed global fintech investor. Major existing investors including Mastercard, Acorn Capital, Commencer Capital, Rampersand and Artesian participated in the latest financing.
mx51 empowers banks, acquirers and merchants to keep ahead of rapidly evolving shifts in payments technology. Since closing its $25 million Series A round last year, which occurred within 12 months of launch, mx51 has since doubled global headcount to over 100.
The company is also on track to more than double revenues this calendar year and as a key technology partner driving innovation for banks and acquirers is aiming to become the payments solution of choice for merchants.
mx51 CEO and co-founder Victor Zheng said: “Thanks to our partnerships to date, we estimate we now have the means to access a significant share of Australia’s merchant market. With this new capital, we’re poised for an aggressive rollout over the next few years, first in Australia and then abroad.“
In addition to expansion, mx51 will also use the funds to double down on its core in-store, online payments and merchant dashboard solutions. It will also develop further capabilities to assist with fraud prevention and data-driven customer insights.
Zheng added: “We’ve succeeded on the back of our sharp focus on simplifying the merchant payment experience, and empowering banks and acquirers to innovate around legacy technology and to keep pace with changes in the payments sector.”
“This capital raise is also in spite of global macro headwinds. This is because our primary customers, banks and acquirers, are well positioned to deepen collaboration and co-invest with fintechs to deliver modern payment experiences to their merchants.”
mx51’s product serves two distinct markets. For banks and acquirers mx51’s payments-as-a-service platform provides a futureproofed payments solution, that effectively leverages their existing legacy technology infrastructure.
For merchants, mx51 provides a suite of embedded payments solutions to create a seamless experience, both online and in-store. The platform is regularly updated with new modules and capabilities, which when coupled with robust self-service features and deep customer insights, allows banks and acquirers to consistently deliver a best-in-class experience for merchants.
Paul Naphtali, managing partner, Rampersand, who has backed mx51 since pre-seed said: “Mega rounds in this market cycle may well be rare, but mx51 is a rare case. The tenacity and daring to build bank-grade core infrastructure with relatively little funding shows how the Australian founder mindset is critical - build more with less. This has the potential to be another Australian-made global fintech success story.”
Robert Routley, Acorn Capital CEO, said “mx51’s payments technology has a compelling value proposition that has been validated by a rate of customer adoption that has exceeded our expectations since our initial investment in 2021. The current funding round positions the Company well to execute on its global expansion strategy”.
Luke Fay, Managing Partner, Artesian said: "We've been very impressed with the progress of mx51 and their proven predictability of a payments business. It's no wonder this investment round has been so well supported despite challenging market conditions".
Jeff Law, Fund Manager, Commencer Captial said: “Commencer Capital is excited to continue our support of the MX51 team. In the time since our initial investment they have proven their top-tier capability as founders and established payments industry experts. Their impressive traction with major banks and acquirers has demonstrated the bank grade quality and critical need of the MX51 solution, and the potential global applications over the coming years.”