Nium’s journey to become the leader in real-time global payments

• Main Authors: KOH, Annie, CHEAH, Sin Mei, FERNANDEZ, David
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: Fintech; Start-ups; Scaling entrepreneurial ventures; Growth Strategy; Currency; Environmental sustainability; Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cases_coll_all/509; https://cmp-shop.smu.edu.sg/products/nium-s-journey-to-become-the-leader-in-real-time-global-payments?variant=42299506622506
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This case is a sequel to “Nium: Leveraging Fintech to Disrupt Cross-Border Remittance Services” case study, but it can also be used as a standalone case. Set in 2024, it follows the growth journey of Nium, a Singapore-born fintech company founded in 2014 which pivoted from digital remittance to real-time global payments, through the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis. Prajit Nanu, the co-founder and CEO of Nium, believed that Nium had weathered the economic storm triggered by the global pandemic to emerge even stronger than before to raise more than US$300 million in equity funding in 2021. In a milestone event, it joined the coveted club of fintech unicorns and became Southeast Asia’s first business-to-business (B2B) payment unicorn valued at around US$2 billion. With an increasing demand for cross-border money transfers, Nium found its global payment infrastructure a befitting solution to serve the needs of the larger B2B market. By 2024, the firm held regulatory licenses and authorisations in more than 40 countries, accepted pay-ins in 40 markets and issued pay-outs to more than 220+ countries and 100 currencies. Through this growth trajectory, Nium continued to preserve its original value proposition of offering speed, convenience, and low fees even as it shifted from retail to institutional clients. How could Nium, as the leading fintech player in the payment space and a newly minted member of the unicorn club, continue to grow its net revenue by leaps and bounds, surpassing its previous peaks to reach greater heights? Students will identify common reasons for startup failures and how the strategies Nium adopted helped it avoid these pitfalls. They will describe key growth strategies the fintech used to propel its growth to become a unicorn, and how it could capitalise on industry trends to continue its growth trajectory. Finally, students will learn to articulate the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns in the fintech industry.