Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, the investment arm of the American banking giant, has backed London-based international payments fintech Sokin in a $31m investment.
Other investors involved in the transaction include Aurum Partners, the family office associated with the American football team San Francisco 49ers, and former PayPal chief commercial officer Gary Marino, who will take a board position at the fintech.
Vroon Modgill, Sokin’s founder and CEO, says that Sokin chose to take investment from the NYC-headquartered bank because it sets them apart from other fintechs.
“It’s important for our customers to know that they’re working with a trusted company that’s backed by a tier one bank,” he says in an interview with Sifted. “We didn’t want to be just another fintech player, raising money from VCs for the sake of raising money year-on-year.”
Founded in 2019, Sokin provides around 500 businesses across different verticals — including freight, logistics and even Premier League football clubs — multi-currency accounts to manage international transfers and payments. Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is also an angel investor in the company.
Modgill says that Sokin has been profitable for the last two years. Last year, the company reported a pre-tax profit of $4.5m with annual revenues of $11.5m. He claims that the fintech is currently on track to hit a profit of more than $10m this year.
Big banks eye up fintechs
Morgan Stanley’s investment in Sokin follows other financial institutions taking a larger role in funding Europe’s fintechs this year.
According to data collected by Sifted Intelligence, the venture arm of American bank Citi was one of fintech’s most active investors in H1 2024, allocating capital to six European fintechs in the first half of the year. Natwest and Laser Digital, a venture capital firm backed by Japanese investment bank Nomura, also closed four deals each during the same period.
Modgill described Morgan Stanley’s stake in the company as “significant” but said it was too early to think of the investment as a step towards a majority acquisition. Modgill will maintain a significant shareholding in the company and it will continue to operate as an independent entity.
Currently, he says the company is focused on funnelling the capital into further growing the company’s global reach. Currently, around 45% of its clients are based in North America but Modgill sees Asia, South America and Africa as key potential areas for expansion.
