About Freemarket
Freemarket was built with a clear purpose
We are Freemarket
Our story
2011
Freemarket was built with a clear purpose.
Alex Hunn, our founder and Board member, spent fifteen years in investment banking, specialising in capital markets and cross border payments. He saw that all but the biggest businesses were getting a raw deal and poor service when they tried to move money. Banks were offering large spreads, slow transaction times and opaque pricing.
He believed that being in business was hard enough without those hurdles. So he set out to use technology to challenge the status quo; to make moving money faster, cheaper, and most importantly fairer, for all businesses.
Our early success was operating as a regulated FX provider, targeting UK Small/Medium Enterprises.
2014
We announced our first external funding round, raised primarily from angel investors. The funding supported early technology development and commercial expansion.
2016
Rich Ricci, former CEO of Barclays Capital, joined us as Chairman, strengthening the firm's governance and institutional credibility.
2020
We raised additional growth capital, including investment from BHL Holdings alongside an EIS raise from West Hill Capital. The funding supported automation and scaling during increased demand for digital payments amid COVID‑19 disruption. We began to open up B2B cross‑border payments, establishing multi-currency accounts and building our own proprietary network.
2023
We announced investment from Baird Capital’s Global Private Equity Fund to support our international expansion and licensing. We achieved Central Bank of Ireland authorisation, enabling passporting across the EEA.
2024
Andrew Adams joins the Board as an advisor joining Charlotte Crosswell OBE, Chair of the Risk Committee.
2025
The company enjoys its strongest growth period in recent times.
2026
We announced that we had made a strategic investment in Axiym, our "Pay Now Settle Later" provider. Axiym’s treasury and settlement layer allows our network members to access post-pay settlements, reducing the constraints of SWIFT pre-funding models.
We are always evolving. Today, built by a world-class compliance team, we are a global payment network processing tens of billions of dollars. We are debt-free, cash positive and with world-class investors on our side. We have a brilliant team and a well-connected Board in a powerful network of people, driven by a common goal to help our clients to grow.
Together, we are Freemarket.
A trusted network
Join banks, PSPs, MSBs, liquidity partners, stablecoin issuers in our network and see how you could transform your payment and treasury needs.