In a world of overnight fintechs selling speed but shipping spaghetti, Tensec just did something different, they made time work for them. Not with slogans. With substance.
Founded in 2023, this Palo Alto-based powerhouse didn’t show up to play dress-up in financial jargon. They came equipped with an AI-driven platform that lets global trading companies deliver cross-border financial services, FX, real-time payments, transaction banking, to their SMB clients without even touching an integration. It’s like if SWIFT had a nightmare and that nightmare was Tensec moving money in seconds, not days.
This isn’t your average “let’s plug into Stripe and pray” startup. This is the fintech you build when you’ve already played every hand in the deck. Helcio Nobre, CEO and Co-founder, isn’t new to the game, he’s walked the line at PayPal, Credit Karma, Visa, Rapyd, and Goldman Sachs. Sandrine Cousquer-Okasmaa, COO and Co-founder, has seen compliance from the inside out, Mastercard, American Express, Bond, Goldman Sachs. And Yang Wang, VP of Engineering and Co-founder, didn’t just code this story, he engineered at Bond, PayPal, JPMorgan Chase, Facebook, and still found time for Stanford’s LEAD program.
So when they say “AI-powered onboarding in minutes,” or “real-time money movement across 150 countries,” or “stablecoin rails that kill the drag of SWIFT,” it’s not bravado, it’s architecture. And investors noticed.
Tensec just closed a $12 million seed round led by Costanoa Ventures, with backing from Quiet Capital, WillowTree Investments, Cambrian VC, IGNIA Partners, Montage Ventures, Renegade Partners, and Endeavor Scale Up Ventures. Translation: sharp money chasing sharper infrastructure.
The market they’re playing in? $194.6 trillion in 2024. Projected to hit $320 trillion by 2032. Half of it run by SMBs drowning in legacy banking friction. Tensec doesn’t offer a bandaid, they built a bypass.
In just six weeks after launching, they cleared nearly $4 million in FX through the platform. Today, they serve clients powering $10 billion in trade volume. Their first customer alone, out of Mexico, is pushing $700 million across borders.
You think that’s the finish line? That’s their warm-up set. Expansion is coming: APAC, Europe, and a target to triple trade volume as those corridors come online. With offices in New York, SF, Palo Alto, São Paulo, and Mexico City, this team’s not just building reach, they’re designing relevance.
Props to CEO Helcio Nobre, COO Sandrine Cousquer-Okasmaa, and VP of Engineering Yang Wang. The next-gen banking stack isn’t coming. It’s here, and Tensec’s clock is ticking faster than everyone else’s.
