Bound, a platform setting out to make currency hedging simple for SMEs, is being tipped by VCs to be one of Europe’s next major FinTechs.
The company has secured more than £4.8 million in seed capital from founders and VCs behind Klarna, Stash, MX and Qonto to help it transform the UK’s SME forex market.
Institutional investors in the company’s seed round include three of the world’s leading venture capital firms — Valar Ventures, Moonfire and Album VC.
Bound says only 4% of UK SMEs protect themselves from currency risk, compared to 94% of Fortune 500 companies, because hedging is confusing and complicated.
Its mission is to show every SME trading internationally that hedging doesn’t need to be a headache.
Bound, which is an appointed representative of MJ Hudson Advisers Limited, aims to take the financial complexity and forex nous out of managing currency risk, with a simple and effective way to protect their currency.
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“The market Bound is targeting is massively underserved and offers a huge opportunity for transformation,” said James Fitzgerald, general partner at Valar Ventures.
“We believe Bound could become one of the major European FinTechs in the years ahead. The management team has a clear vision of where the company is going and what it’s out to achieve: democratising currency hedging and making it easily accessible to SMEs, something that is insanely overdue.”
Seth Phillips, founder of Bound, added: “Being backed by some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs and VCs is an important validation of our vision. Right now, currency hedging, to the average SME, is confusing and complicated but it doesn’t need to be.
“We’re on a mission to help SMEs effortlessly protect their businesses from ever-changing currency rates and save them billions in the process. We have an aggressive strategy to acquire market share and are encouraging anyone who wants to be involved in our growth story to get in touch.
“We’re aiming to triple the size of our team in the next few months and are looking for smart people in multiple roles.”