UK fintech Paysend lands in Miami to expand cross-border payments platform to America

By Riley Kaminer

As an international finance and consulting manager, Jairo Riveros is used to moving around a lot.

“I have been an immigrant from Colombia to the United States, the United States to the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom to Canada, then from Canada back to the United States,” he shared Update Miami. “And every time you move, you have to reinvent yourself.”

Some adaptations are easier than others – whether it’s learning a new language or getting used to a new climate.

But one task Riveros always found particularly vexing: managing money across borders.

“No matter how sophisticated you are, financial instruments are always complex,” he lamented.

That’s why Riveros was excited when he first came across the British start-up Paysend, which is building a more efficient system for cross-border and local payments. Riveros was first an investor in the startup, working with them soon after Paysend was founded, five years ago. The company has since raised over $150 million in funding.

In 2020, Riveros doubled down on Paysend, taking on the role of CSO and CEO for North America and LATAM. He explained that Paysend aims to enable users to shop globally faster, cheaper and more conveniently than ever before.

With over eight million customers, most of whom are in Europe, Paysend is already making great progress in this direction. Now the startup has set its sights on America, with Miami as its regional hub.

“There are $130 billion in remittances sent in many different forms across the North-South corridor,” Riveros claimed. “We have an opportunity to create another, more innovative way to send money internationally.”

According to Riveros, transactions that can take up to a week to go through take as little as 30 minutes through Paysend’s platform. It is useful for the average consumer. But it really is a game changer for Paysend’s business customers, who – in Europe at least – account for twice the startup’s annual transaction volume. Enterprise customers include companies that offer global payroll solutions, such as Deel, and logistics firms.

In mid-November, Paysend launched its Paysend Libre product, focused on enabling unbanked users in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to instantly receive money transfers from the US to a Paysend virtual Mastercard digital card. The card is ready to use in a few minutes for cash withdrawals and online purchases. This service is aimed at the North Central America region, where 60% of the adult population is unbanked.

What about crypto? While Paysend is not currently leveraging crypto technologies, Riveros said he is keeping an eye on this fast-growing corner of the fintech space.

“Everyone is talking about crypto, but the utility still needs to be proven,” he said, noting that the exact benefits are still unclear. “We’ve decided to park it for now and see how it goes.”

For the Paysend team, the Miami move was a clear choice. Riveros said the company was drawn to the large and diverse Latino population, great tech talent and South Florida’s proximity to many of their partners.

“In the future, we plan to have some global functions based here,” Riveros shared, signaling plans to potentially recruit a marketing manager to Miami. Since opening the doors to their local office in January, Paysend has built a team of 10 employees who live all over South Florida—from Miami to Boca Raton to Parkland, and everywhere in between.

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