APEXX has raised over £3m in its seed capital

APEXX, the first single marketplace for global payments, has closed an initial seed funding round and been awarded a grant by Innovate UK, totalling £3.2m.

The round was led by Forward Partners, a London-based VC which specialises in applied artificial intelligence (AI) and has previously invested in EmpowerRD, Ably and Epic. The round was also supported by MMC Ventures and Alliance Venture.

The global APEXX network is made up of payment service providers and banks, helping merchants reduce the cost of cross border payment acceptance, increase sales with optimised payment transactions as well as manage multiple provider relationships.

Matthew Bradley, investor at Forward Partners, commented: “APEXX’s unique acquirer-agnostic platform and algorithmic payment routing balances existing payment relationships in favour of the customer.

“It’s a bold mission and I’ve never seen a company at this stage be so far entrenched in multiple global enterprises. The business fits squarely within Forward Partners’ Applied AI investment thesis and we’re excited to be investing alongside MMC and Alliance Ventures.”

Using the cloud-based platform, merchants can compare costs and get advice on the payment providers that might suit them. It could potentially save merchants upwards of 15 per cent on the cost of processing credit or debit card payments and alternative payments.

APEXX is to use this investment to further extend its global network of acquirers, payment providers and merchants, and fund product development.

Dan Bailey, investor at MMC Ventures, said: “Large merchants have for too long been stuck with a choice between convenience at the expense of opaque pricing and hidden fees, or complex networks of different acquirers.

“APEXX’s platform handles both the complexities of multiple acquirers and routing optimisation through one single integration. We’re excited to be partnering with Forward Partners and Alliance Venture to help APEXX achieve that vision.”

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