Eye on Investment: Payments Firms Rev.io, Melio, Thunes, And Mollie Announce Funding Rounds

Evidence emerged Tuesday that Covid-19 fears are far from suppressing investor interest in payments as two U.S. and two European companies announced funding news.

Atlanta-based Rev.io, an 18-year-old provider of billing platforms, said it has received a “significant growth equity investment” from Primus Capital. The company did not disclose the total funding, “This partnership with Primus marks the start of a new era at Rev.io,” said Brent Maropis, the company’s chief executive, in a statement. “By leveraging Primus’s experience, insight into [software as a service] best practices, and financial support, we can realize full scalability in our operating models and accelerate our already impressive growth trajectory.”

Also on Tuesday, business-to-business payments provider Melio Payments announced it has raised a total of $144 million in capital so far following an $80-million Series C round in August. The 2-year-old company, with offices in New York City and Tel Aviv, Israel, caters to small businesses, allowing them to make payments via bank transfers or a debit card.

“At a time when small businesses need the most flexibility, they have the least,” said Matan Bar, Melio’s cofounder and chief executive, in a statement. “Business payments shouldn’t be more complicated than paying a friend with your phone.” From 2015 to 2017, Bar headed up consumer peer-to-peer payments at PayPal Holdings Inc.

Melio said it will use the funding to support its strategy to provide payments capability for third-party providers. Recently, the company agreed to offer one of the bill-pay options on Intuit Inc.’s QuickBooks accounting platform.

Overseas, Transfer to Mobile Financial Services Ltd., also known as Thunes, said Tuesday it has raised $60 million in a Series B round led by Helios Investment Partners. Launched only last year, the cross-border payments provider is based in Singapore. Last month, Thunes concluded a deal with MoneyGram International Inc. that opened connections for MoneyGram in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

Meanwhile, an Amsterdam-based company called Mollie B.V., whose technology streamlines the integration of payments capability into an app, is riding the wave of e-commerce activity unleashed by the pandemic. Founded in 2004, Mollie said over the weekend it has raised $106 million in a Series B round, vaulting the company’s valuation over the $1-billion threshold.