US-based online payment platform peerTransfer has this month reached its $1bn milestone in international education payments.
After a concerted push for global expansion in 2014, the company, which is backed by Spark Capital, Devonshire Investors, and QED Investors, among others, recently welcomed its 500th client when it signed up Bournemouth University, home to 2,000 international students.
“It will offer great benefits to our institution, both in terms of payment reconciliation and student experience”
“We are thrilled to be able to offer peerTransfer’s payment solution to our international students,” Andrew Wright, Finance Officer Controller at Bournemouth University, said. “It will offer great benefits to our institution, both in terms of payment reconciliation and student experience.”
Alternative electronic payment solutions are growing in popularity among education institutions with an international cohort as they reduce costs such as currency conversion and overseas bank transfer fees.
ACI Worldwide caters to more than 300 higher education institutions in the US and Puerto Rico and in January this year the University of Cumbria became the first public university in the world to use Bitcoin payments.
They are also gaining a reputation for being more reliable than other payment methods such as traditional bank transfers.
Iker Marcaide, a business school student from Spain and peerTransfer’s founder, developed the platform after his international bank transfer to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) failed to arrive.
“We are pleased with the leading position we have established in the international education payment industry,” peerTransfer CEO Mike Massarosaidr said. “Processing over $1bn in payments during the last two years is a great accomplishment. We look forward to the coming year as we expect to reach the $2bn mark while also releasing many new enhancements to our solution.”
