The landscape of international money movement has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past decade, fundamentally changing how individuals and businesses transfer funds across borders. In 2026, the global cross-border payments market has surpassed an astounding value of 190 trillion dollars annually, representing one of the most dynamic and rapidly evolving sectors within financial technology. What was once a process that required multiple days, involved numerous intermediaries, and carried prohibitively expensive fees has been revolutionized by innovative startups that leverage cutting-edge technology to make international payments as seamless as domestic transactions.
Traditional banking systems, built on infrastructure from the 1970s, have long struggled to meet the needs of our increasingly globalized world. The friction inherent in correspondent banking relationships, the opacity of foreign exchange markups, and the unpredictable timelines for settlement created substantial barriers for both individuals sending remittances to family members and businesses operating across multiple countries. Cross-border payment startups have emerged as the solution to these persistent challenges, utilizing real-time payment rails, transparent pricing models, stablecoin infrastructure, and direct integrations with local payment systems to eliminate the inefficiencies that plagued international money movement for generations.
This comprehensive analysis examines the ten most influential cross-border payment startups shaping the industry in 2026, companies that are not merely improving existing processes but fundamentally reimagining how money flows across international boundaries in an interconnected global economy.
1. Wise (Formerly TransferWise)
Wise stands as the original disruptor in cross-border payments, having fundamentally challenged how international money transfers work since its founding in 2011. The London-based company built its reputation on radical transparency, showing customers exactly how much they pay in fees and what exchange rate they receive, in stark contrast to traditional banks that obscure costs through inflated exchange rates. With total funding exceeding 1.7 billion dollars, Wise has become the benchmark against which other cross-border payment providers are measured.
The company’s multi-currency account allows individuals and businesses to hold and manage funds in over forty currencies from a single platform. Users can receive payments with local bank account details in up to ten currencies including US dollars, euros, British pounds, Australian dollars, and Singapore dollars, meaning international clients can pay them just as they would a domestic business. This eliminates the international transfer fees that recipients would otherwise incur. Wise processes international payments to more than 160 countries using the mid-market exchange rate, the same rate you see on Google or financial news sites, rather than marking it up for profit.
What sets Wise apart in 2026 is not just its competitive pricing but the trust it has built over more than a decade of operation. The platform integrates seamlessly with accounting software like Xero and QuickBooks, making it particularly valuable for small businesses managing international operations. With a one-time setup fee of 31 dollars for business accounts and no monthly maintenance charges, Wise offers predictable, transparent pricing that resonates with cost-conscious users. The company’s Trustpilot rating of 4.3 stars based on over 230,000 reviews speaks to consistent reliability that has made it a default choice for millions of users worldwide.
2. Airwallex
Airwallex represents the next generation of cross-border payment infrastructure, having grown from its 2015 founding in Australia to achieve a remarkable 6.2 billion dollar valuation as of 2026. The company crossed a significant milestone in mid-2025 by reaching 800 million dollars in annual recurring revenue, positioning itself for a potential initial public offering that leadership has targeted for late 2026. What distinguishes Airwallex from earlier entrants is its comprehensive approach to financial infrastructure for globally-minded businesses.
The Singapore-based company offers multi-currency accounts supporting more than twenty major currencies, international payment processing to over 180 countries, virtual and physical card issuance for employee expenses, and embedded payment gateway solutions that e-commerce platforms can integrate directly into their checkout flows. Businesses using Airwallex can collect payments in local currencies through actual local bank account details, avoiding the international transfer fees their customers would otherwise pay. The platform’s integration with major e-commerce platforms including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Amazon makes it particularly valuable for online merchants expanding internationally.
Airwallex’s growth trajectory illustrates the massive opportunity in cross-border payments. While the company historically concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, which still accounts for approximately sixty percent of revenue, its fastest growing markets are now North America and Europe, where the business is scaling at over 200 percent year-over-year growth. By early 2026, these newer geographic markets are expected to represent over forty percent of total revenue, demonstrating Airwallex’s successful expansion beyond its regional origins. The company’s three-tiered pricing structure, ranging from a free Explore plan to enterprise-level solutions, makes its services accessible to businesses at every stage of growth.
3. Rapyd
Rapyd has established itself as a comprehensive fintech infrastructure provider that enables businesses to accept, hold, convert, and disburse funds globally through a single integration. Having raised 770 million dollars in total funding, the London-based company offers what it describes as an all-in-one payments platform that supports card acquiring, digital wallets, bank transfers, and cash payments across more than 120 currencies and 190 countries.
What makes Rapyd particularly valuable for businesses is its extensive network of over 175 alternative payment methods, allowing merchants to accept payments in whatever format local customers prefer. In markets where credit cards are less common, customers might pay through mobile wallets, bank transfers, or even cash vouchers, and Rapyd’s infrastructure supports all these options seamlessly. The platform includes built-in fraud management, compliance tools, and reconciliation features, providing a complete solution for businesses accepting international payments rather than requiring them to assemble multiple services from different providers.
In 2025, Rapyd received payment licenses in Israel alongside competitors like Revolut and Airwallex, enabling these companies to offer digital wallets, foreign exchange services, and payment processing while holding customer funds in regulated accounts. Rapyd’s acquisition of Neat, a business financial platform popular with small and medium enterprises, expanded its reach into user-friendly tools for digital-first ventures. While Rapyd’s pricing structure requires businesses to contact them for custom quotes based on transaction volume and specific needs, the comprehensive nature of their platform means businesses often find value in consolidating multiple financial services into one relationship.
4. Nium
Nium, headquartered in Singapore, has positioned itself as the infrastructure powering the next generation of global payments. The company serves as the behind-the-scenes technology that enables banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions to offer cross-border payment services to their own customers. With regulatory licenses in over thirty-five countries and the ability to process payments in real-time to 190 countries, Nium has built one of the most comprehensive payment networks in the industry. Remarkably, the company reports that over eighty percent of its transactions worldwide settle in real-time, a dramatic improvement over traditional international payments that often require days to complete.
What distinguishes Nium’s approach is its focus on being infrastructure rather than a consumer-facing brand. While companies like Wise and Remitly build direct relationships with end users, Nium provides the technological rails that allow other companies to offer these services. A bank wanting to launch international payment services for its business customers, or a fintech company seeking to enable cross-border transfers, would integrate Nium’s application programming interfaces rather than building payment connections to hundreds of countries themselves. This business-to-business-to-consumer model allows Nium to scale rapidly through partnerships.
The company’s technology stack includes instant disbursement to accounts, wallets, and cards, local collection capabilities in forty markets allowing businesses to receive payments as if they were local entities, card issuance programs in thirty-four countries for both physical and virtual cards, and robust foreign exchange services supporting up to 100 currencies. Nium partnered with J.P. Morgan Payments to leverage their global foreign exchange expertise and worldwide payment rails, combining a startup’s innovation with an established financial institution’s infrastructure. In 2026, Nium is also exploring integration of emerging payment rails including stablecoins, viewing these not as competition but as additional options to offer clients depending on their specific needs and regulatory environments.
5. Remitly
Remitly has emerged as a specialized leader in consumer remittances, the segment of cross-border payments where individuals send money to support family members in other countries. This market segment is particularly important in emerging economies, where remittances often represent a significant portion of household income and even contribute meaningfully to national gross domestic product. Remitly’s platform is designed specifically for this use case, prioritizing speed, reliability, and accessibility for customers who may not have extensive banking relationships or technical sophistication.
In 2025, Remitly made significant strategic moves that positioned it at the forefront of innovation in international money transfers. The company launched Remitly One, a comprehensive membership program available for 9.99 dollars per month that bundles multiple financial services beyond basic remittances. This includes Remitly Flex, which allows customers to send money immediately but pay for it later with up to 250 dollars in interest-free funding, Remitly Wallet for holding both traditional currencies and stablecoins, the Remitly Card for making purchases, and cash-back rewards programs.
Perhaps most significantly, Remitly partnered with Bridge, a Stripe company, to integrate stablecoin rails into its global disbursement network. This allows customers to receive funds as stablecoins in a wallet of their choice, with the payment routed seamlessly from Remitly’s established traditional currency infrastructure. For users in countries with volatile local currencies, the ability to receive and store value in dollar-denominated stablecoins addresses a critical need for wealth preservation. Remitly’s embrace of stablecoins while maintaining its traditional money transfer services demonstrates how established remittance companies are defending their market position by integrating the same tools that crypto-native competitors use, giving customers choice and flexibility in how they receive funds.
6. Zepz (WorldRemit and Sendwave)
Zepz represents the power of consolidation in the cross-border payments industry. The London-based company serves as the parent organization for two well-known remittance brands, WorldRemit and Sendwave, which together serve over nine million users across 130 countries through more than 5,000 money transfer corridors. Valued at five billion dollars and having raised substantial funding including a 267 million dollar Series F round in late 2024, Zepz has established itself as one of the largest independent players in the remittance sector.
The company’s strategy of maintaining separate brands allows it to serve different customer segments effectively. WorldRemit offers a broad range of services with 185 partner institutions globally and supports transfers to bank accounts, mobile wallets, and cash pickup locations across numerous countries. Sendwave, which Zepz acquired in 2021 for approximately 445 million dollars, focuses specifically on mobile-first transfers to markets in Africa and Asia, emphasizing instant delivery to mobile money wallets that are ubiquitous in these regions. An impressive eighty-five percent of Zepz transactions settle within minutes, delivering on the promise of near-instant international money transfer.
In December 2025, Zepz entered into a partnership with Fireblocks to integrate stablecoin-powered remittances at scale. This collaboration allows WorldRemit and Sendwave users to benefit from the speed and cost advantages of blockchain-based transfers while maintaining the trusted, regulated experience they expect from established providers. The company secured 165 million dollars in growth financing in early 2025 from HSBC Innovation Banking and HSBC Private Credit, funds earmarked for expanding services and improving pricing for the migrant communities that depend on these remittance platforms. Zepz also recently acquired Pomelo, a fintech company specializing in credit-based remittances and cards, marking its evolution beyond simple money movement into broader financial services for cross-border communities.
7. BVNK
BVNK represents the cutting edge of cross-border payment innovation by specializing in stablecoin infrastructure for businesses. While many payment companies are just beginning to explore digital assets, BVNK has built its entire business model around enabling merchants and enterprises to leverage stablecoins for international payments. The company provides the technology layer that automatically converts traditional currency to stablecoins for near-instant cross-border transfer, then converts back to local currency at the destination, all happening seamlessly from the user’s perspective.
The value proposition is compelling. Traditional correspondent banking routes for international payments can take two to five days to settle, tying up working capital and creating uncertainty. BVNK’s stablecoin rails reduce settlement times to minutes while avoiding the high foreign exchange fees charged by traditional banking networks. For businesses that previously needed to maintain pre-funded accounts in multiple countries to ensure quick payment processing, stablecoins through BVNK’s infrastructure eliminate this capital-intensive requirement.
In January 2026, BVNK received direct access to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments infrastructure, a significant milestone that combines traditional payment rails with its stablecoin capabilities. The company has also deepened its partnership with Visa, having received investment from the payments giant in May 2025, and is powering stablecoin payment pilots for Visa Direct. BVNK’s partnership with LianLian Global demonstrates practical application, enabling merchants in e-commerce and marketplace businesses to deposit stablecoins that are automatically converted to traditional currency and distributed to over 100 countries through LianLian’s network. Having raised 50 million dollars in Series B funding and expanding operations to the United States, BVNK is positioning itself as essential infrastructure for the next generation of global commerce.
8. Thunes
Thunes has built its business as a comprehensive cross-border payments platform that connects the world’s most dynamic economies. With reach extending to 130 countries supporting both traditional fiat currencies and stablecoins, Thunes offers what it describes as a single application programming interface integration that makes cross-border money movement as simple as local payments. The company’s network includes partnerships with banks, mobile wallet providers, and alternative payment method operators, giving it the flexibility to route payments through whatever channel works best for each specific transaction.
What makes Thunes particularly valuable is its focus on emerging markets and the diverse payment preferences found in these regions. In many developing countries, traditional bank accounts are less common than mobile money wallets or alternative payment methods. Thunes has built connections to these local payment ecosystems, enabling businesses to collect payments from customers using their preferred local methods and to disburse funds to recipients however they want to receive them. The platform supports digital value products including prepaid cards and vouchers, and offers Buy Now Pay Later functionality that aligns with how next-generation digital customers prefer to make purchases.
Recent partnerships demonstrate Thunes’ commitment to accessibility. Sterling Bank in Nigeria partnered with Thunes to simplify remittances for Nigerians living overseas, leveraging Thunes’ global network to make sending money home faster and more affordable. The company’s emphasis on compliance-first operations and end-to-end visibility means businesses using Thunes can trust that transfers will arrive as expected while meeting all regulatory requirements. In an industry where reputation is paramount, Thunes’ focus on reliability and transparency has made it a trusted partner for enterprises requiring consistent cross-border payment execution.
9. PingPong Payments
PingPong Payments has carved out a specialized position serving e-commerce businesses and online sellers who need to receive payments from international marketplaces and send funds to suppliers around the world. With coverage extending to over 200 countries and regions, PingPong provides what it calls cross-border infrastructure that is global by design. The company’s platform simplifies the complexity of operating internationally by offering comprehensive currency access, seamless currency conversion capabilities, and developer-friendly application programming interfaces that integrate smoothly into existing business systems.
The platform’s capabilities include collecting payments globally through local accounts in your business name, supporting bank transfers, wire payments, cards, and regional alternative payment methods. This means an e-commerce seller can receive payments from customers in Europe, Asia, and North America without maintaining separate business entities and bank accounts in each region. PingPong also powers global disbursements, enabling businesses to pay suppliers, contractors, or employees in their local currency efficiently. The company offers multi-currency business accounts with spending controls over purchase categories, giving finance teams granular oversight of international expenditures.
Security and compliance are central to PingPong’s value proposition. The platform employs real-time fraud detection with millisecond-level transaction control throughout the entire payment lifecycle, and maintains SOC 2 Type 1 certification along with top global security standards for data protection. With enhanced certifications, intelligent controls, and deep regulatory expertise across jurisdictions, PingPong handles the complex compliance burden so businesses can focus on growth. The company’s commitment to being a true partner rather than just a service provider, offering webhooks, detailed documentation, and comprehensive support from day one, has made it popular among scaling e-commerce businesses that need reliable international payment infrastructure.
10. Payoneer
Payoneer represents the maturity and scale achievable in cross-border payments, having evolved from its founding into a publicly-traded company that serves businesses and freelancers worldwide. With 570 million dollars in total funding raised before going public, Payoneer offers a comprehensive suite of services including international money transfers, mass payout capabilities for businesses paying multiple recipients, and online payment collection for e-commerce merchants and freelancers working with international clients.
The company’s extensive network of partnerships allows it to facilitate global expansion for businesses by efficiently connecting them with clients and customers worldwide. A freelance software developer in India can receive payment from a US company through Payoneer in their local currency, a Malaysian e-commerce seller can collect earnings from Amazon marketplaces around the world, and a staffing company can pay hundreds of remote workers across dozens of countries through Payoneer’s mass payout functionality. The platform provides multi-currency receiving accounts with local bank details in major markets, making international clients’ payments to users as straightforward as domestic transfers.
Payoneer’s longevity and established relationships with major platforms give it distribution advantages. The company has integrated with countless marketplaces, e-commerce platforms, and business networks that recommend or require Payoneer for international payments. While newer competitors may offer flashier technology or marginally better rates on specific corridors, Payoneer’s comprehensive service, established reputation, and embedded position within the global freelance and e-commerce ecosystems provide enduring competitive advantages. For users who prioritize reliability and breadth of options over cutting-edge features, Payoneer remains a trusted choice in 2026.
The Technology Transforming Cross-Border Payments
Several technological innovations have converged to enable the dramatic improvements in cross-border payments we see in 2026. Real-time payment rails, which allow near-instant settlement between banks within a country, have been implemented in dozens of markets worldwide. Cross-border payment companies leverage these local real-time systems by maintaining accounts in each country, enabling them to send money domestically within each market while handling the actual cross-border movement through their own internal systems.
Stablecoins, digital currencies pegged to traditional assets like the US dollar, have emerged as transformative infrastructure for international payments. The passage of the GENIUS Act in the United States in July 2025 created regulatory clarity that accelerated adoption by established payment companies. Multiple startups profiled in this article now use stablecoins as temporary bridges during international transfers, converting sender currency to stablecoins, moving them nearly instantly across blockchain networks, then converting to recipient currency. This eliminates the delays inherent in correspondent banking while reducing costs.
Application programming interfaces and modern software architecture have made integration dramatically easier. A business can now connect to a cross-border payment provider’s platform in hours or days rather than the months of development work previously required. This ease of integration has enabled embedded finance, where payment capabilities are woven directly into e-commerce platforms, accounting software, and business management tools, making international payments feel as natural as any other business function.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning power fraud detection, compliance monitoring, and foreign exchange optimization. These technologies analyze transaction patterns in real-time to identify suspicious activity while minimizing false positives that frustrate legitimate users. Machine learning algorithms optimize currency conversion timing and routing decisions, automatically selecting the most cost-effective path for each payment based on current market conditions and available payment rails.
Challenges and the Path Forward
Despite remarkable progress, cross-border payment startups still face significant challenges in 2026. Regulatory compliance remains complex and expensive, with each country imposing its own requirements for licensing, anti-money laundering procedures, and consumer protection. Companies must maintain substantial compliance teams and invest heavily in systems that meet varying standards across dozens or hundreds of jurisdictions. Changes in regulations, like new stablecoin frameworks or data privacy laws, require constant adaptation.
Foreign exchange volatility can impact profitability, particularly for companies that guarantee exchange rates to customers while settling payments hours or days later. Sophisticated hedging strategies and real-time pricing engines help manage this risk, but currency markets remain inherently unpredictable. Companies also face challenges from new competitors emerging constantly, from cryptocurrency-native solutions offering peer-to-peer transfers, and from traditional banks finally modernizing their international payment offerings.
Looking ahead, several trends will shape the industry’s evolution. Central bank digital currencies, where governments issue their own digital money, could create new payment rails that compete with or complement existing solutions. Cross-border payment companies will need to integrate these government-issued digital currencies alongside stablecoins and traditional money. Greater regulatory harmonization through international cooperation could reduce compliance complexity, though political realities make this uncertain.
The rise of embedded finance will continue, with cross-border payment capabilities increasingly integrated directly into the software platforms where businesses already work. Rather than visiting a separate payment provider’s website, users will send international payments from within their e-commerce platform, accounting software, or enterprise resource planning system, with the underlying provider invisible to them. This shift emphasizes the importance of robust application programming interfaces and partnership strategies.
Conclusion
The cross-border payment startups profiled in this analysis represent different approaches to solving the fundamental challenge of moving money internationally in an increasingly globalized world. From Wise’s pioneering transparent pricing to Airwallex’s comprehensive financial infrastructure, from BVNK’s stablecoin specialization to Zepz’s remittance-focused brands, each company has found its niche within the 190 trillion dollar cross-border payments market.
What unites these diverse approaches is a commitment to making international money movement faster, cheaper, and more accessible than the legacy banking systems that dominated for generations. Whether through real-time payment rail connections, stablecoin infrastructure, extensive local partnerships, or user-friendly interfaces, these startups have demonstrated that cross-border payments need not be complicated, expensive, or slow.
As we progress through 2026, the continued innovation from these companies and their competitors will further blur the lines between domestic and international payments, ultimately creating a global financial system where borders matter less than they ever have before. For the billions of individuals and millions of businesses whose prosperity depends on efficient cross-border money movement, this transformation represents not just technological progress but genuine economic empowerment and inclusion in the global economy.
