Anthony Oduu, CTO & Co-Founder, Verto
Today we’re meeting Anthony O., the CTO, CPO and Co-Founder of Verto, the cross-border payments, foreign exchange and banking solutions specialist.
Over to you Anthony:
Who are you and what’s your background?
My background spans across capital markets, consultancy, travel and leisure, banking, and entrepreneurship. My career started in 2007 as an analyst, where my focus lay in the intricate realms of capital markets, consultancy, and the travel and leisure sectors. I then transitioned to the insurance industry – my standout contribution being the management of an innovative financial reinsurance solution that facilitated the widespread adoption of SAP-based global administration systems.
I then had a variety of roles at several prestigious banks in London, including tenures at Lloyds, Barclays, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. These roles added depth to my understanding of finance, technology, and the critical nature of innovative financial solutions within complex markets.
In 2013, I took an entrepreneurial leap to establish my first company, Tespoke. The venture was inspired by the need to bridge communication barriers between educational institutions, parents, and the private tutoring sector. Building upon this, I set up my second company, Expedius, in 2016, creating real estate investment avenues for high-net-worth individuals.
Driven by a desire to innovate within the financial industry, I co-founded Verto in 2017 with the mission to formulate a solution that uses a marketplace model. Our aim with Verto is to enhance the process of price discovery for our clients, specifically tailored to the nuances, rules and regulations of various regions. My background has been a cornerstone in developing technology driven solutions that address widespread industry challenges.
What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?
As Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Product Officer, my primary responsibilities involve steering the technological and product development direction of Verto. I oversee a team of highly skilled engineers, developers, and product managers who work hard to create innovative payment solutions that cater to the ever-evolving needs of our customers.
I’m deeply invested in integrating cutting-edge technologies such as AI, blockchain, and quantum computing to ensure Verto remains a leader in payment innovations over the next 5 to 10 years. My role is to keep our company at the pulse of the payments industry’s evolution, ensuring that we not only adapt to changes but also shape them. This involves staying abreast of the latest technological advancements, market trends, and regulatory shifts, and translating these insights into actionable strategies for our product roadmap.
On a daily basis, I collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including sales, marketing, and customer support, to gather feedback and insights that inform our product development efforts. I also work closely with our engineering teams, providing technical guidance, setting priorities, and ensuring that our products are built with the highest standards of quality, security, and scalability.
Additionally, I represent Verto at industry events, conferences, and meetings, where I share our vision for the future of payments and engage with thought leaders, partners, and potential customers. This not only helps to raise Verto’s profile but also allows me to gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by our target markets.
Can you give us an overview of your business?
Verto is an international fintech company, providing businesses of all sizes with sophisticated cross-border payment, foreign exchange, and banking solutions. Our platform offers a single, unified system for businesses to manage global payments and payouts effectively. Verto unites companies worldwide with its streamlined financial services.
The company sets itself apart with its emphasis on evolving markets – areas within the payments and fintech landscape that are often overlooked and highly scattered. With Verto’s global headquarters in the UK, the business is placed to offer expert guidance to business executives, policymakers, and international banking institutions for enhanced risk evaluation in these dynamic, emerging markets.
Tell us how you are funded?
Our journey has been fuelled by substantial investments from venture capitalists, commencing with seed funding from angel investors. We have managed to raise over $12.1 million through three funding rounds.
The unwavering support and confidence demonstrated by these investors, coupled with our accomplishments in reaching critical milestones, have empowered us to grow our business, increase our team, and handle approximately $7 billion in annual transactions across more than 190 countries worldwide.
We are profoundly grateful for their belief in our vision and remain actively engaged in pursuing additional funding opportunities to propel our continued growth and development.
What’s the origin story? Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?
Verto was born out of our personal experiences navigating the complexities of international money transfers and payments. From its inception, our mission has been to empower individuals, businesses, and organisations by streamlining cross-border financial transactions, ensuring security and cost-effectiveness, with a particular focus on underserved emerging markets often overlooked by traditional players.
Back in 2017, my co-founder Ola started to encounter a problem with cross-border payments landscape, particularly for transactions involving emerging markets like Nigeria. Individuals and organisations faced many hurdles when making international payments to vendors or remitting funds to family abroad. The process was mired in inefficiencies, opaque practices, and exorbitant fees.
During a game of poker, we started talking about our frustrations regarding international payments. At that time, I was embarking on my MBA journey at Imperial College Business School, reading Venture Capital, Private Equity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Simultaneously, I was in the midst of launching Expedius and so I could really emphasise with the challenges from my position as an entrepreneur – making it even clearer a solution was needed.
We recognised the untapped opportunity to develop a solution that could revolutionise cross-border payments, making them faster, more cost-effective, and transparent. Fuelled by this realisation, we took the bold step of leaving our respective careers to build a disruptive fintech venture.
Who are your target customers? What’s your revenue model?
Verto’s mission is to equip businesses with the financial tools necessary to thrive in the global marketplace. Our advanced platform and API integration offer enterprise-grade solutions tailored to the cross-border payment, foreign exchange, and banking needs of companies of all sizes.
We cater to finance leaders, including CFOs, finance directors, group treasurers, CEOs, MDs, and founders, who require efficient management of their organisation’s international financial operations. Whether expanding into new markets, investing in emerging economies, or navigating the complexities of international buying and selling, our target customers face a number of challenges that our solutions are designed to address.
Through our services, businesses can seamlessly access cross-border payments, foreign exchange, and banking solutions that foster their global growth and success. Our revenue model is driven by transaction fees generated from facilitating these financial services for customers operating across various geographies, including the US, Europe, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and the UAE.
If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?
I would change the archaic thinking behind compliance processes, especially around documentation requirements and verification in the banking and fintech sectors. This outdated approach slows down innovation and hinders progress in the industry.
By streamlining and modernising these processes, we can create a more efficient and customer-friendly environment that ultimately benefits both businesses and consumers.
What is your message for the larger players in the Financial Services marketplace?
To trust Fintech’s that are building incredible products to remove the current frictions, especially within b2b banking, and support them with adequate solutions and governances. Embracing innovation and collaboration with fintech companies can lead to improved services, enhanced customer experiences, and overall industry growth.
By working together and leveraging the strengths of both traditional and newer players, we can create a more dynamic and competitive financial services landscape that benefits everyone involved.
Where do you get your Financial Services/FinTech industry news from?
As a fintech entrepreneur, I make it a point to stay on top of the latest industry developments and trends.
A couple of sources I refer to regularly are TechCrunch and Bloomberg. TechCrunch reports on the business of startups, venture capital funding and other news from Silicon Valley.
Bloomberg is one of the leading publications for banking and broader financial services, offering insightful analysis on major industry shifts.
Between these two, I’m able to keep a pulse on fintech’s cutting edge while also tracking how incumbent players are responding and evolving.
What FinTech services (and/or apps) do you personally use?
Personally, I use Apple Wallet/Pay, Wise, and Revolut. These platforms have provided me with convenient and efficient solutions for managing my finances and making transactions.
Finally, let’s talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?
Over the next few years, I believe we’ll see several key trends shaping the fintech landscape:
First, global firms will continue deepening their presence across African markets. Despite global events like the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, companies are not just maintaining but expanding their engagement in Africa. They are reshaping transactional models and customer strategies tailored to these markets. However, long-term commitment and working closely with local partners who deeply understand the nuances will be critical for sustained growth in these markets.
Additionally, we are just beginning to unlock the potential of AI in revolutionising fintech applications like data analytics, financial forecasting, fraud detection, and risk assessment. As AI capabilities advance, fintechs will use it to enhance their solutions’ effectiveness and enable more sophisticated algorithmic trading.
We should also expect a shift in focus within the crypto space, highlighting blockchain’s utility aspects over just being a currency. Distributed ledger technologies will find more real-world use cases across financial services.
Lastly, big global players are moving beyond just providing financial aid to Africa. Instead, they are fostering self-sustaining solutions through collaborations with local entities, like the Dangote group’s refinery initiative in Nigeria. This model of investing in projects that bolster self-reliance and sustainable development across Africa is poised for wider replication.
Thank you so much for taking the time to contribute, Anthony.
You can follow Anthony on LinkedIn here: Anthony O. and you can find more information about Verto at https://www.vertofx.com/.
