A new fintech start-up with its sights set on disrupting the global payments market has won the ‘Cross-border payments’ category of the Innovate Finance Pitch360 competition.

APEXX beat a field of other start-ups to win the award in front of an audience of more than 800 investors and industry experts at London’s Guildhall.

APEXX is on a mission to improve the way cross-border payments are made, in order to save merchants money and improve the experience of their customers.

The global B2C cross-border e-commerce market will reach $1 trillion in 2020, according to a report from global consulting firm Accenture. Yet, poor checkout experiences means e-commerce businesses risk losing millions of potential customers at the point when they try to checkout. Consumers often find checkout processes slow, frustrating and cumbersome.

To address this, APEXX’s platform lets merchants access a single marketplace of all available payment provider and acquirers, as well as a simple way to integrate with their technology. This makes it easier to offer checkout options that will appeal to customers. Multiple acquirers can be used, and APEXX routes customer transactions through the acquirer most likely to convert the sale.

Merchants can also use APEXX to compare costs and get expert advice on the payment providers around the world that will best suit their needs.

Rodney Bain, founder and deputy CEO at APEXX Fintech, said, “We’re delighted to pick up this award as we approach the point where we formally launch APEXX into the market. We believe we have a chance to improve the consumer experience of payments on any merchant site and we’re looking forward to announcing our first major customers in the coming weeks.”

Every year, merchants pay acquirers millions of pounds to process credit or debit card payments and alternative payments. There are thousands of options open to them – finding the right partner can be a pain, especially for growing e-commerce businesses that are expanding around the world and quickly need multiple acquirers.

Bain concludes, “It’s perhaps unsurprising that once a merchant selects an acquirer, rarely do they then change that provider. This status quo sometimes hampers competition – why innovate if no one jumps ship? We believe APEXX will  introduce more competition by making it easier for merchants to find and quickly switch between payment providers.”