P2P currency exchange CurrencyFair raised €8 million ($8.9 million USD) in a funding round led by Octopus Ventures. That brings the company’s total financing to more than €20 million ($22.3 million USD).

Also participating in the round were Proxy Ventures and Frontline Ventures.  CurrencyFair CEO Brett Meyers said, “Working with them will help us further develop our brand and the industry as something people and businesses can trust to save them money.” Meyers added that P2P currency exchange needed a “more mature voice” and that the new round of funding represented a “validation of the brilliant product and marketplace we have built.”

Pictured: CurrencyFair co-founder and CEO Brett Meyers demonstrating his company’s iPhone app at FinovateEurope 2013.

In addition to the funding, CurrencyFair announced the hiring of former Unibet Chief Marketing Officer, Nils Andén, as its new CMO. As CMO of one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe, Andén is credited for the commercial strategy that helped Unibet’s market cap grow from £300 million to £2 billion from 2010 to 2015.

Speaking about the similarities he sees between the P2P currency exchange market today and the online gambling industry when it was in its infancy a decade ago, Andén credited “the extortionate rates of the banks” as helping some of CurrencyFair’s rivals “make a lot of noise at the moment.” However, like Meyers, he said the industry is ready for a “more mature approach” as customers become more comfortable with P2P currency exchanges as an alternative to the banks.

“Style gets you noticed, but substance gets you remembered,” Andén said.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, CurrencyFair demonstrated its iPhone app at FinovateEurope 2013 in London. CurrencyFair won Best of Show for its presentation at FinovateAsia 2012.