UK B2B X-Border Payment Firm Vitesse Notches $8.6M Series A

British international payment FinTech Vitesse has notched 6.6 million pounds ($8.6 million) in a Series A fundraising round, according to a TechCrunch report.

Octopus Ventures headed up the round, which also saw the involvement of current investors, such as Hoxton Ventures, in addition to different angel investors.

Paul Townsend and Phillip McGriskin started Vitesse back in 2014. The company runs a payment and banking infrastructure on an international scale. As of now, Vitesse has processed in excess of 2.1 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) throughout nearly 2.3 million transactions. The company’s banking network affords the ability to harness different domestic banking platforms.

“We are essentially running a globally distributed, local banking network to make payments so our customers don’t have to do it themselves,” McGriskin said, according to the report. “And then we supply a customer-specific view so they can manage their funds most effectively, giving appropriate views right across their business.”

Vitesse said, per TechCrunch, that the funding would be harnessed for expansion, with the inclusion of growing promotion and sales efforts in addition to bolstering the company’s American presence.

In separate news, EMQ, a financial settlements network that works in cross-border payments, notched a $20 million Series B WI Harper Group-led funding round in July.

The investment was to be for additional global expansion as well as product licensing and development functions throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas.

EMQ Co-Founder and CEO Max Liu said he wants companies to be able to “send money anywhere in the world and to any end point with a simple one-stop integration.”

Separately, Routable this month raised $12 million in a Series A round. The firm intends to use the funds to keep expanding, with the inclusion of bringing more workers on board and growing the product.

The round included contributions from Y Combinator, Box Group, Lee Fixel and Founders Co-Op, among others.