Tensec has obtained $12m in seed funding to enhance real-time payments and financial services for global businesses within the $190 trillion cross-border payments sector.
This investment was spearheaded by Costanoa Ventures. It also features contributions from Quiet Capital, WillowTree Investments, Cambrian VC, Ignia Partners, Montage Ventures, Renegade Partners, and Endeavor Scale Up Ventures.
According to Tensec, the investment aims to democratise cross-border transaction banking services that have traditionally been exclusive to large financial entities.
Costanoa Ventures partner Amy Cheetham said: “Tensec lets global trade companies seamlessly integrate financial services to better serve their clients.
“It’s a win-win—new revenue for trading companies and modern financial tools for SMBs who’ve been underserved for decades.”
Tensec utilises artificial intelligence (AI) and a global fintech infrastructure to offer a no-integration platform enabling trading companies worldwide to provide foreign exchange services, cross-border payments, and treasury solutions for small and medium-sized business clients.
Tensec CEO and co-founder Helcio Nobre said: “SMBs drive nearly half of global trade but have long been excluded from the financial tools that larger players rely on.
“We’re flipping the model by empowering global trading companies to deliver these services directly to their partners—making global commerce faster, cheaper and more accessible.”
Currently, Tensec collaborates with clients managing $10bn in annual trade volume, with expectations to reach $30bn following planned expansions into the Asia-Pacific and European Union markets.
Founded by former executives at PayPal, Meta, Goldman Sachs, Visa, Mastercard, Rapyd, and Credit Karma, Tensec aims to reimagine B2B cross-border financial services.
The company empowers global trade firms and FX service providers to directly deliver these financial solutions. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Mexico City, and São Paulo, Tensec is supported by Stearns Bank for US-based banking services.
The company targets the outdated SWIFT technology still prevalent in cross-border payments infrastructure. Despite projections of global cross-border payments reaching $250 trillion by 2030, innovation in SMB payments remains minimal even though they account for over 40% of the $25 trillion annual trade in physical goods.
Tensec claimed that its platform addresses this gap by combining payment, hedging, and trade finance functionalities into a single interface that simplifies service delivery for trading companies.
The company’s offerings include a login-based access model requiring no API or coding, streamlining client onboarding with enhanced KYB/KYC verification processes.
The platform facilitates real-time global payments with significant reductions in traditional waiting periods and optimises revenue management with real-time exchange rate data. Additional features comprise AI-powered compliance checks, USD FX hedging services, and support for transactions across more than 150 countries and over 70 currencies.
