Chinese unicorn XTransfer expands in Hong Kong amid fintech recovery

XTRANSFER, a cross-border transactions and financial risk management startup backed by D1 Capital Partners, is expanding in Hong Kong to lure merchants as China’s fintech companies emerge from a lull.

Valued at more than US$1 billion last year, the Shanghai-based firm will this month start providing Hong Kong merchants with payments services when they buy from mainland suppliers, it said in a statement. Registered in Hong Kong as Xtransfer, the company aims to attract about 300,000 small and medium-sized enterprise clients in the city.

XTransfer is expanding its client base beyond Chinese companies to diversify revenue sources. Fintech startups have had to hunker down in the past two years following regulatory tightening and a downturn in venture funding for the sector.

Setting up in Hong Kong is one of the first steps in the company’s global expansion. The value of trade imports from mainland China accounted for 49 per cent of Hong Kong’s total last year, according to the Census and Statistics Department.

Due to compliance and regulations, cross-border transactions have become increasingly costly for small and medium-sized firms. XTransfer can reduce fees by 95 per cent and exchange costs by 20 per cent by setting up accounts with banks on behalf of clients collectively and providing anti-money laundering checks.

The company was co-founded in May 2017 by six former employees of Ant Group and affiliate Alibaba Group Holding. XTransfer’s other backers include Yunqi Partners, Gaorong Capital, 01 Capital, eWTP Capital, Telstra Ventures, Mindworks Capital and Lavender Hill Capital Partners. It has served more than 300,000 small companies. BLOOMBERG