iBanFirst
“Can a profitable, PE-backed European cross-border payments specialist scale into the UK and layer embedded trade finance (B2B BNPL) on top of its FX rails to reach €100m ARR?”
Founded2016
HQBrussels, Belgium
FoundersPierre-Antoine Dusoulier
Latest roundSeries C, 2020 ($23.8M)
IndustryFintech / Cross-border payments
The story
Founded 2016 as a cross-border B2B payments platform (formerly FX4Biz) targeting SMEs underserved by traditional trade finance. Raised Series C in 2020, then broke away from the classic VC path in 2021 with a Marlin Equity Partners investment, prioritising profitability. Acquired Cornhill International Payments in 2022 to strengthen UK presence. Now expanding beyond FX/payments into B2B BNPL and embedded international trade finance, with the 2025 FCA EMI licence positioning London as the next growth engine.
Product timeline
2016
iBanFirst founded by Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier (formerly FX4Biz)· pivot
2020
$23.8M Series C led by Elaia and Bpifrance· funding
2021
Company breaks away from VC path, buyout by Marlin Equity Partners· acquisition
2022
Acquired Cornhill International Payments (UK FX provider)· acquisition
2024
€65m revenue, first full year of profitability (€7m EBITDA)· milestone
2025
Secured EMI licence from UK FCA; CEO relocates to London· banking
2025
Expanded iBanPay — its AI-powered invoice-processing assistant that scans, extracts, and validates payment details from invoices to auto-create draft payments for customer approval — to UK customers in October 2025 (original launch date not independently verified).· product
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by iBanFirst
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
7 layers disclosed in iBanFirst’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
iBanFirst (self-operated, licensed payment institution)
Money movement
in the full report
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
20 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.