Paysme shapes their expansion plans with FD Global Connections

Paysme Founder Derek Stewart approached the NYC Immersion FinTech Program as an exploratory exercise, but after completing the workshops and meetings, he is now sure enough of his US plans to build his fundraising goals around backing the expansion. Click here for details about Paysme

Paysme’s vision is to create holistic financial services solutions for underserved small business communities to accelerate their transition to the digital economy.

Although Derek has a wealth of experience in the USA running a hedge fund business in New York, the program provided an opportunity to see first hand how to bring an early-stage company from the UK into the US market in the right way legally, structurally, and from a regulatory perspective. Being able to go through the hands-on workshops and meetings with domain experts was the missing piece for the scaleup, and it provided a fast track approach to the market.

The workshops made it crystal clear to Derek and the team that it would be a misstep to attempt to take on the entire US market as a whole because the differing state and federal systems meant a higher barrier to entry, but the size of the market in New York alone was enough to drive Paysme to apply their Immersion Program experience to establish their operations in the USA. Their mission is to help Small Businesses and their communities through access to mobile payments, digital banking, insurance and accounting and with 2.1 million SMEs in New York, that mission can develop even further.

Through the corporate partners they met with during the NYC Immersion FinTech Program, Paysme is in a position to search for and secure a US acquiring bank, to handle payments processing for their platform, a partnership they are confident they’ll be able to find. Additionally, they now have the contacts to start discussions with both banking and insurance partners, giving them a solid foundation for the next stage of growth.

Derek considers the program alone to have been an incredibly strong strategic move for Paysme. “The way the program was facilitated and supported, and how everything ran like clockwork was amazing,” said Derek.

“Had I tried to plan a trip and program like this myself, it would have taken me months, and it would not have been as high quality. I could have spent probably six months running around trying to put this together, so working with Trena to have it run this smoothly made it a huge opportunity.”

The steps Derek is looking to once additional funding has been secured are to secure specific customer channels to win their first business in the US, and then find a strategic partner on the ground, with the right team to represent the business. Following the success of the NYC Immersion FinTech Program, those steps seem like a natural progression, rather than an obstacle.

This 2019 New York City “Fintech” Immersion Program was generously sponsored by Discover Global Network

If your business is scaling into the USA, you can learn more about FD Global Connections 2020 New York City Immersion Programs, and other services we offer to support your US expansion, by going here: 2020 NYC Immersion Programs