What Is BVNK? The Mysterious Fintech Growing 300% From Nowhere

BVNK is a B2B crypto payments company backed by Tiger Global and Citi Ventures, achieving a $340m valuation with 300% headcount growth and 250% revenue growth since 2021. BVNK positions as the “Stripe of crypto,” providing stablecoin payment rails for businesses while poaching talent from Revolut and Checkout.

The Stealth Fintech Nobody Saw Coming

When asking dozens of in-the-know European VCs and founders about BVNK, barely anyone had heard of the company. Yet this London-headquartered startup attracted a $340m post-money valuation—similar to fellow European fintechs Monese, Yokoy, and Uncapped, which have all been operating significantly longer and raised upwards of $100m in equity.

What is BVNK’s secret? The company officially launched in October 2021 and didn’t take external funding until closing its $40m Series A led by Tiger Global in May 2022. Even by Tiger’s aggressive investment standards, that’s an abrupt entry onto the European fintech scene. The funding round’s timing—during crypto winter when most projects struggled—signals Tiger’s conviction in BVNK’s business model and market positioning.

The pronunciation itself reveals the company’s mission. “The horrifically cheesy history of the name is that it means ‘turning banking upside down’,” BVNK’s 24-year-old cofounder and chief product officer George Davis explains. “But if you catch any of us at office drinks, it might be ‘Bank’.” The official pronunciation is “B.V.N.K.”—individual letters rather than a word.

What Is BVNK? The Stripe of Crypto Payments

BVNK is not actually a bank despite its name play. It’s a B2B crypto payments infrastructure company enabling transactions from fiat currencies (euros or US dollars) into crypto, fiat to fiat, and crypto back to fiat. The company sells its API to other businesses, handling the on and off-ramping—buying and selling crypto with fiat money—for various currencies they want to use.

BVNK’s core technology functions as a payments rail facilitating stablecoin transactions globally. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies and backed by real-world assets like bonds. The two biggest are USDC and Tether’s USDT. Nearly $9 trillion worth of stablecoin transactions occurred over the last 12 months according to Visa, while total stablecoin market valuation exceeds $300 billion per Coinmarketcap data.

The company targets both “crypto-native” businesses and traditional companies wanting to handle crypto payments—say, to allow customers paying with bitcoin—but lacking infrastructure to build payment systems themselves. BVNK has around 150 customers, though it won’t name specific clients. Approximately 80% are payments companies ranging from foreign exchange businesses to standard payments providers powering ecommerce checkouts.

BVNK’s Revenue Model

· Transaction fees charged each time money moves through its platform

· Foreign exchange fees on currency conversions

· 250% revenue growth since October 2021 launch

Further down the line, BVNK aims to become the go-to solution for large financial institutions providing crypto payments—a goal that formed a significant part of its Series A investor pitch. The recent Citi Ventures investment validates this strategy, as major U.S. banks increasingly explore crypto infrastructure.

Citi Investment Signals Wall Street Embrace

Citi Ventures’ investment in BVNK represents major U.S. banks ramping up cryptocurrency and digital asset presence. The company declined disclosing Citi’s investment amount or current valuation, but co-founder Chris Harmse confirmed valuation exceeds the $750 million publicly disclosed at its last funding round—more than doubling in less than a year.

What is BVNK’s appeal to Wall Street titans? The GENIUS Act passed earlier in 2025 brought regulatory clarity to stablecoin markets, triggering “an explosion of demand for building on top of stablecoin infrastructure,” Harmse explains. U.S. banks at Citi’s scale are “putting their weight behind … investing in leading businesses in the space to make sure they are at forefront of this technological shift in payments.”

Citi CEO Jane Fraser signaled the bank’s crypto ambitions in June, stating Citi is considering issuing its own stablecoin and offering custodian services for crypto assets. BVNK’s technology could facilitate these services, positioning the startup as critical infrastructure for traditional finance’s crypto transition.

BVNK sees particular momentum in the U.S., its fastest-growing market over the last 12-18 months. The company’s expansion coincides with favorable regulatory developments distinguishing the U.S. market from more uncertain European and Asian jurisdictions. This geographic focus explains BVNK’s aggressive North American hiring, bringing product and engineering talent on the ground.

The Coindirect Origins: A Complicated History

What is BVNK’s actual origin story? Two of BVNK’s four cofounders, Jesse Hemson-Struthers and Donald Jackson, previously founded cross-border payments company Coindirect in 2017 in Cape Town. It served emerging markets where customers could bypass the clunky global Swift system by transferring funds into stablecoins, then remitting them in euros or British pounds.

Davis says this was a profitable business that merged with BVNK in January 2022, absorbing Coindirect’s revenue. However, there’s no record of such merger on Companies House. When pressed, Davis clarifies “we can think of it more as a rebrand.” Both Hemson-Struthers and Jackson resigned from Coindirect director positions in August 2021—one week after BVNK incorporated, two months before BVNK’s official launch, and four months before the stated “rebrand.”

Coindirect’s existing profitability and global customer base likely explains how BVNK’s cofounders convinced Tiger to invest $20m just months later. BVNK’s founders own 60% of the company, with Tiger holding approximately 17% based on post-money valuation and investment amount. Although BVNK’s headquarters is in London with 40 employees, Coindirect’s absorption means its biggest staff concentration—around 70 people—remains in Cape Town.

This emerging markets presence from the offset represents BVNK’s unique selling proposition. “We have this really core emerging market muscle from the cross-border payments business that we’ve had for a few years,” Davis notes, adding that Coindirect’s legacy helps BVNK understand moving money from emerging to established markets using crypto as vehicle.

Aggressive Expansion: From 40 to 250 Employees

What is BVNK’s growth strategy? The company increased headcount 300% since October 2021, from 40 to 160 employees, and plans reaching 250 within 12 months. This expansion is unusually broad for a European fintech within its first year—and certainly rare in 2022’s bear market.

New hires span globally with over half in product and engineering roles. BVNK also recruits regulatory specialists as it expands into new markets. It’s already started North American expansion with ground-based product and engineering teams.

“This is likely a bet on ‘winning’ being driven by a land grab,” one fintech investor tells Sifted anonymously. “It’s ‘cheap’ right now to expand while crypto is not so hot and thus there will be fewer newly capitalized competitors. And they’re making a big bet on a multifaceted platform which requires lots of regulatory cash.”

BVNK aggressively targets talent from Europe’s biggest fintechs. Davis conducted LinkedIn outreach since May’s raise, targeting employees from Revolut, Checkout, Paysafe, and crypto-focused companies.

“Getting talent from Revolut was really important for us. What we love about Revolut’s culture is the drive and the ‘Get shit done’ aspect of it,” Davis says. “The Series A transformed our ability to hire from large-scale fintechs. Everyone we hire passionately believes that crypto and fintech are going to converge, and that money will seamlessly move between the two.”

Competitive Landscape And Market Position

What is BVNK competing against? Its main competitor is London’s BCB Group, whose clients include some of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges. BVNK also faces smaller players like Cryptopay and Mercuryo, plus emerging competitors like Alchemy Pay and TripleA, alongside established giants like Ripple pursuing the cross-border digital money market.

BVNK differentiates through emerging market expertise, multi-market regulatory compliance, and integrated fiat-crypto-fiat flows. The company’s claim to have “global access” positions it as one-stop solution for payments companies wanting worldwide crypto capabilities without managing multiple regional partners.

FAQ

What does BVNK actually do?

BVNK provides B2B crypto payment infrastructure through APIs that enable businesses to facilitate fiat-to-crypto, crypto-to-fiat, and fiat-to-fiat transactions. It handles on and off-ramping for companies that want crypto payment capabilities without building infrastructure themselves.

Who are BVNK’s customers?

BVNK has approximately 150 customers, with 80% being payments companies including foreign exchange businesses and ecommerce checkout providers. The company doesn’t publicly disclose specific client names.

How does BVNK make money?

BVNK charges transaction fees each time money moves through its platform, plus foreign exchange fees on currency conversions. The company has grown revenue 250% since October 2021.

Is BVNK profitable?

Co-founder Chris Harmse states BVNK has “dipped in and out of profitability” as it invests in growth, but the company is on track to be profitable in 2026.

Who invested in BVNK?

Major investors include Tiger Global (led $40m Series A), Citi Ventures (undisclosed amount) and other institutional backers. BVNK’s founders own 60% of the company.

Why is BVNK growing so aggressively during crypto winter?

BVNK views current market conditions as opportunity for “cheap” expansion while facing fewer newly-capitalized competitors. The strategy bets on winning through land grab before the next crypto bull cycle.