London/Dublin, 12 October 2023: Alt21 has closed a $21m (c. €19.4m) funding round, one of the largest pre-Series A raises in Europe this year. The capital will be used to accelerate growth of its API-first hedging platform, expand internationally and deepen partnerships with fintechs and banks.
The investment backs Alt21’s clear view that:
Hedging is still too complex, too manual and too expensive for most SMEs. Alt21 removes that friction by embedding simple, automated hedging directly into the platforms SMEs already use.
Over the last 12 months, Alt21 has focused on building for scale rather than chasing short-term growth. The company materially strengthened its technology, operating architecture and team, resulting in a five-fold increase in operating income to €8.3m in 2022. That foundation now allows the business to expand faster, without compromising resilience or service quality.
What Alt21 does differently
Alt21 operates an end-to-end digital hedging platform delivered to strategic partners. Those partners embed hedging products into their own business, enabling SME customers to protect against FX risk simply and cost-effectively, without specialist knowledge or manual processes.
The model works. Strong income growth reflects increasing adoption by SMEs who want clarity and control over currency exposure, not complexity.
The new capital supports three priorities:
- Broaden the strategic partner base to reach a larger SME audience.
- Expand into new geographies and work with partners globally.
- License Alt21’s software to a wider range of fintechs and banks, enabling them to offer lower-cost FX services within their own regulated businesses.
This is about distribution at scale, not reinventing the product each time.
Built to scale, not just grow
Alt21’s recent momentum is underpinned by sustained investment. Over the past year, the company nearly doubled its R&D team to 37, bringing total headcount to 68. Automation, user experience and operational processes have all been upgraded to support higher volumes without increasing complexity.
Looking ahead, Alt21 plans to invest further in AI and machine learning to close the gap between human advice and trading apps for SMEs. This includes strengthening its ‘hedgucation’ modules, designed to help businesses understand risk and act with confidence.
Pritesh Ruparel, CEO of Alt21, commented:
“I am really excited about the opportunity that lies ahead for Alt21. Our mission is to make things simple. We use technology to scale where others have added human capital, providing a highly automated service that cuts cost and complexity and gives value back to small businesses at a time when they need it most.
When fintechs experience high demand, it’s tempting to push for growth at all costs without strengthening the foundations to scale. Making the decision last year to invest in our foundations and build scalable architecture amid rapid growth was a brave one and one that I believe will pay off for us in the long run. We are extremely focused on creating sustainable success for our customers and believe this is exemplified by the infrastructure investments we have made, which allow us to support customer growth while rapidly gaining market share.
It’s a tough environment for raising money and, in this context, I really appreciate the continued support of our long-term investors and my Board, who recognise the size of the market opportunity as well as the progress we have made in maturing our business and platform.
I look forward to showcasing to clients and select strategic partners the upgraded technology we’ve been working on.”
Richard Hayes, Chairman, added:
“This latest funding round serves as further important external validation of Alt21’s strategy, execution and market opportunity. The last 12 months have been difficult for fintech businesses in a rising interest rate environment but the team at Alt21 has continued to execute strongly, strengthening the robustness of its platform and operations and adding world-class new talent. I’m proud to chair a talented board who will support Prit in building a team that goes on to create a scalable world-class fintech.”
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About Alt21
Alt21’s mission is simple: make hedging solutions accessible, affordable and effortless.
Its end-to-end FX hedging and payment platform, which is offered as SaaS or managed service, enables financial and non-financial institutions to offer low-cost, transparent, self-service hedging that SMEs can adopt without training or hand-holding.
The platform embeds hedging exactly where SMEs need it, wrapped in a clean, guided user experience that works round the clock.
Banks have left this market underserved for too long. Now they can fix it at scale, at speed and without rebuilding their tech stack.
Alt21 Software Limited is incorporated in Ireland (No. 578153) with its registered office at Century House, Harold’s Cross Road, Dublin 6W, Dublin, Ireland. It’s subsidiary ALT 21 Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 783837) is a company registered in England and Wales (number 10723112). The registered address is 45 Eagle Street, London WC1R 4FS, United Kingdom.
To learn more, visit www.alt21.com.
ALT21 Media contact: marketing@alt21.com
