Heard at Money20/20: Cross-border payments shouldn't be so complicated

By Kivanc O. and Rowland Berry

The Payoneer team attended Money 20/20 in Las Vegas last month and we are still thinking about the informative, inspiring discussions that took place over just a few days. Of course, the conversations about transparency, price, and speed of payments were particularly interesting and there was a wide range of representation from cross-border providers. It was also exciting to hear companies express interest in partnering with Payoneer to serve small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with a wide range of products. We are so appreciative of team members who attended the sessions and those who worked behind the scenes to make this a great event for our company.

Indeed, the tremendous showing at Money 20/20 makes us even more enthusiastic about our future. It is clear that the opportunity to serve small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) around the globe has never been greater. We are committed to making it easier for these entrepreneurs to manage their cross-border payments. This is about more than the expansion of individual businesses; efficient cross-border payments are critical for the acceleration of globalization.

To that end, we are developing a financial stack and forging partnerships with local financial institutions that help entrepreneurs in emerging markets to manage, streamline, and scale their commerce globally. Our customers range from freelance contractors to e-commerce businesses with hundreds and thousands of employees. We are proud that these customers value what we are doing for them now and what we can do for them in the future. For example, we recently extended and expanded our long partnership with Airbnb, allowing hosts in certain countries to get paid in local currencies and access the funds in multiple ways. We also recently announced a partnership with Etsy to streamline payments to sellers, helping create economic opportunities for more entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Payoneer Singapore Private Limited also recently received a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which will allow us to roll out several new services there.

It is important to have our finger on the pulse of business owners because we work with them and their companies directly. That is one of the reasons we launched our inaugural SMB Ambitions Barometer in 2023 that surveyed 3,575 entrepreneurs and small business owners in 15 countries. It confirmed our belief that many of them consider cross-border transactions to be incredibly complex, especially in emerging markets. At the same time, more than 70% of these companies see cross-border expansion as a way to grow their customer base and revenues. And they expect half of their customers to be from other countries in the next two years. Payoneer’s opportunity to help these companies is enormous; we estimate 80 million SMBs are underserved. It just shouldn’t be so hard for these companies to navigate one of the most important aspects of their business.

We also released the fifth edition of our Freelancer Insights Report in 2023 in which we surveyed more than 2,000 freelancers across 122 countries. As a growing number of businesses are comfortable with remote workers, freelancers are expanding their client base to new countries. They are also seeing more demand from digital businesses that are growing across borders. We expect that this, too, will continue to drive our business.

Our financial results already reflect how we help our customers. We had record quarterly revenue of $208 million in the third quarter of 2023, a 31% increase from the prior year period. As of 2022, we have an approximately 20% share of the $300 billion merchants and freelancers market and are in the early stages of penetrating the $850 billion B2B service-provider market. We have reliable same-day and real-time settlement in more than 150 countries and we always aim to route payments in the most economical way possible. We have more than 500 customer success managers who speak a collective 40 languages and are spread across 36 countries.

The numbers are only part of the story. Nothing is more satisfying to us than knowing that we are helping small businesses to grow and flourish. Consider Nitcharee Ujjin, co-founder of an apparel company in Thailand, who was frustrated by the complications of cross-border payments. A business partner introduced her to Payoneer. We were right there to help her quickly exchange cross-border sales into Thai Baht so that the transactions can occur quickly and seamlessly, helping her business to grow. “Anyone who is doing business worldwide is always looking for a payment method that is effective and timely, whether it’s low transaction fees, fast-processing transactions, and a Thai support team that is ready to assist you. Payoneer offers all these benefits,” she said. (Visit our website for more of these customer stories.)

Money 20/20 reminded us of the massive opportunity that is available for Payoneer in global financial services, even in these uncertain times. We can’t wait to share more with you. Stay tuned.