ST HELENS-BASED foreign exchange and payment services specialists TransGlobal Payment Solutions (TPS) has received a further instalment of a £1m investment package from Alliance Fund Managers (AFM) and Enterprise Ventures (EV), following the successful completion of its investment milestones.

TPS has developed an internet-based payment solution – PayFac.

PayFac provides customers with the facility to make payments for any type of transaction, in any currency, which helps businesses to reduce costs and management time in making payroll and supplier payments.

A recent study carried out among finance directors of UK businesses that trade internationally found that one of the biggest barriers was caused by inadequate payment systems.

TPS is helping businesses tackle this problem by introducing PayFac into the finance area to minimise costs and improve payment security. In the last year, the company has grown transaction volumes within its foreign business by 160% and its customer base utilising this service by 137%.

The company has recently added a domestic payment facility to PayFac which enables its customers to consolidate its foreign and domestic payment systems into one, cutting the cost of maintaining multiple payment systems.

AFM, through the MSIF Liverpool Seed Fund, and EV, through the Coalfields Enterprise Fund, agreed to invest £1m as First Round Venture Capital funding, to be made in a series of tranched investments which are released when the business has completed certain milestones. This latest investment totals £275,000 and takes the total funding released so far to £850,000.

Warren Whyte, TPS managing director, said: “We are seeing cost-saving initiatives high on most businesses’ agenda, and PayFac is well positioned to offer customers the ability to exchange costs for profit. We provide comprehensive foreign exchange and payment services to our customers, and our growth demonstrates that we are helping them achieve their cost-saving objectives.”