CurrencyFair is an online peer-to-peer currency exchange marketplace. CurrencyFair is headquartered in Ireland also with employees in UK, Australia, Greece, Hong Kong, Poland and Singapore. The company has offices in Newcastle, NSW, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. CurrencyFair provides international transfers in 20 global currencies. CurrencyFair is a marketplace where money is never exchanged across borders; rather, it stays in the country of origin, thereby avoiding bank conversion fees. Customers have one currency but need funds in another. They are "matched" with someone with a corresponding need - someone who has that currency but needs the other. With CurrencyFair customers can match with someone straightaway using an Auto-Transaction or set a desired rate in a currency and wait to partially or fully match with someone in the Exchange Queue who is going in the opposite currency direction. In an interview with Irish Tech News, co-founder Brett Meyers says, "CurrencyFair is a peer to peer currency transfer service that empowers people to send money from their domestic bank account to their own, or a third party’s, foreign bank account up to 90% cheaper than they can using a bank or broker”. In an August 2018 interview with the Independent.ie, CEO Paul Byrne says "Asia is where we think most growth will come from over time and we want to be part of that story".
History
CurrencyFair was established in April 2009 by co-founders Brett Meyers, Jonathan Potter, Sean Barrett and David Christian. The website went live in May 2010. In early 2014 CurrencyFair became the first platform in the world to break the $1 billion barrier in money-matching transfers and in April 2017 CurrencyFair revamped their platform to enable SMEs to use the service. CurrencyFair announced at the Web Summit in Lisbon in 2016 that it had raised €8million in funding. As of August 2017, the company announced it had traded over €5 billion. The CurrencyFair Mobile App was launched in September 2015. In July 2018, the company announced it had traded over €7 billion. In August 2018, the company announced a €20 million investment plan into the Asian market and the acquisition of Hong Kong-based Convoy Payments. In October 2019, CurrencyFair announced its sponsorship of the 2019 Asian Gaelic Games, with a launch event in Croke Park. In December 2019, the company completed a partnership agreement with Chinese online trade network Buy-World to launch its marketplace payment product.
Awards
In November 2012, CurrencyFair was one of four companies to be named Best of Show at the inaugural FinovateAsia conference in Singapore. In 2013, CurrencyFair won the IIA Dot IE Net Visionary Awards for Most Insightful and Intriguing Internet Innovation. In October 2017, CurrencyFair was listed in the Top 20 Fintech Companies in Ireland by Irish Tech News. In November 2017, CurrencyFair was listed in a list of the "Fintech Startups in Europe to watch in 2018". In January 2018, CurrencyFair was listed in the Silicon Republic's list of the Top 100 Startups to watch in 2018 In May 2018, of the 28 international money transfer providers licensed to operate in Australia, CurrencyFair was one of the three providers that made the Mozo.com.au 2018 Mozo Experts Choice Awards winners list. In November 2018, CurrencyFair COO/CFO Ruth Fletcher won the CFO of the Year award at the Women in Finance Awards 2018. In November 2018, CurrencyFair COO/CFO Ruth Fletcher won a Fintech award at the Women in Tech Awards 2018.
Media
In December 2013, Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny officially launched CurrencyFair's new website and announced the creation of 30 new jobs in 2014. In January 2017, Brett Meyers appeared on BBC News to discuss peer-to-peer exchange and Brexit. In June 2018, CurrencyFair was mentioned in the Money Section of a Sunday Times Article on how Apps can help you track your spending and save money. In August 2018, CurrencyFair appeared in an article in The Times London announcing their acquisition of a Hong Kong payments firm In August 2018, CurrencyFair appeared in an article on Fora.ie about their acquisition of a Hong Kong payments firm In August 2018, CurrencyFair appeared in an article in Business and Finance On August 13, 2018, CEO Paul Byrne spoke on the Newstalk Business Breakfast show about their recent €20m funding and acquisition On September 2, 2018, CurrencyFair appeared in an article in the Sunday Business Post On September 17, 2018, CurrencyFair appeared in an article on the FX Week website On May 27, 2019, CurrencyFair appeared in an article on the Silicon Republic website On June 12, 2019, CurrencyFair published their Brexit Breakup Survey and appeared in an article on the Irish Times website On June 12, 2019, CurrencyFair appeared in an article on the Yahoo Finance website On September 24, 2019, CurrencyFair CEO Paul Byrne appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box Asia In October 2019, CurrencyFair appeared on The Ray D'Arcy Show, to announce the winner of the Come Home competition.
