Startup Showcase: Azimo

How big is your company and what are your technology demands?

We currently have around 90 members of staff across our London and Krakow offices.  We deliver to over 190 countries in over 70 countries and have a wider range of cash collection methods than any other money transfer app including home delivery, more than 270,000 cash collection locations, 20,000 banks globally and many more, catering to their global needs.

Beneath the surface there’s a huge level of complexity which allows us to achieve all of this and enable customers to plug in directly to the pay-out network.  But we pride ourselves on the fact that as a user, you won’t see any of that-just a simple, fast and cost-effective solution to send money overseas.

In terms of security, we’re dealing with people’s hard-earned money, so it’s critical that our systems maintain the highest levels of security.

Where do you see your company in five years?

We want to get to the place where we are synonymous with sending money abroad. To become a verb, as in “I need to Azimo some money to Nigeria” for example. To achieve this, there’s still a lot of education to be done about the alternatives in the sector and instilling the trust that sending money online is secure and safe.

By 2020 its been estimated that there will be more than 6 billion smartphones around the world. Mobile technology is changing the world of finance and we want to continue to be at the forefront.

How can the UK government help startups in the UK and will Brexit have any impact?

As an entrepreneur, the most difficult part about the Brexit vote has been the uncertainty it has created. We do not know how this is going to evolve in the next few months and it could even take years.

Fortunately, we’re not worried about our business. We’re in a unique position as a well-funded start-up with hundreds of thousands of customers in 22 countries in Europe, we are able to respond to changing market conditions quickly. In the meantime, we’ll continue to focus on doing what we do best: delivering faster and lower-cost money transfers to help our hardworking customers create a better life for themselves and the world around them.

From an industry perspective however, Brexit is an unfortunate blow to London’s financial services hub: many companies here depend on both EU market access and the ability and legal right to passport their services to the rest of Europe. I anticipate that we’ll see many finance players moving some, or potentially all, operations to elsewhere in Europe. Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin are all obvious candidates.

The UK government are actually pretty good at supporting startups.  There’s some great initiatives, events and discussions happening all around the UK.  The most important thing they can do now is help fight the uncertainty created by the Brexit and maintain the single market.

Which tech company do you admire and why?

WeChat, the Chinese mobile messaging service. They offer everything from free video calls and instant group chats to file sharing, all integrated within one seamless app.

Quiz: What do you know about mobile apps?