Nium’s card cash cow drives 20% revenue surge

Singapore-based fintech unicorn Nium moved closer to being in the black, thanks to improvements in losses.

The Temasek- and GIC-backed firm cut its losses by 64% in 2025 as revenue increased nearly 20% year on year, with its card business continuing to drive growth.

Photo credit: Nium

Present in over 190 markets, Nium’s offerings include cross-border remittances, payout, card issuance, and banking-as-a-service.

The improved performance comes after Nium said in August 2025 that it had recorded its first EBITDA-positive month.

However, the narrower losses were not entirely due to better operating performance. A US$15.1 million impairment loss related to cash frozen by India’s Directorate of Enforcement as part of a money laundering investigation hurt the company in 2024, according to Ben Lim, senior analyst at Smartkarma.

Revenue growth and a significant decline in employee costs drove much of the remaining improvement in losses, he adds.

An email sent by Tech in Asia seeking an interview with Nium went unanswered.

Card biz continues to flourish

Nium was first established as a cross-border remittance platform for consumers. In 2019, it rebranded from its original name, Instarem, as it expanded into enterprise solutions.

The firm maintains its Instarem brand and cross-border money transfer service. According to its website, Instarem uses Nium’s forex payments technology. The brand also operates the Amaze card, which allows Singapore users to transact abroad with lower exchange rates.

Card issuance remained Nium’s largest revenue contributor in 2025, contributing nearly 69% of gross revenue.

Gross revenue from card issuance reached US$279.2 million in 2025, up from US$252.3 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, income from marketing arrangements with credit card service providers increased by 78% year on year.

Nium gives a significant portion of its gross revenue back to customers in the form of rebates. It classifies rebates as the incentives it gives customers for both money remittance and card issuance.

In 2025, it paid out US$247 million in rebates to customers, which accounted for 61% of its gross revenue – slightly lower than 62% in 2024. Lim says investors should pay closer attention to the rebate rate rather than the absolute rebate amount, but he cautions against reading a falling rate as a straightforward positive.

Putting cash to work

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