[Funding Alert] Cashfree raises $35.3M Series B investment led by Apis Growth Fund II

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Cashfree has raised $35.3 million as a part of its Series B investment led by the global financial services investor, Apis Growth Fund II. The funding also saw participation from existing investors — Y Combinator and Smilegate.

With this fund raise, the team will be looking to scale its payment offerings, develop new product verticals, and strategic investments. The investment will also assist the company in making selective bolt-on acquisitions to further augment its geographic and product reach. 

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Commenting on the capital raise, Akash Sinha, CEO and Co-founder of Cashfree said in the press statement shared by the company:

“This investment is an endorsement of Cashfree's platform as well as our vision to empower customers and businesses with the latest payments tools. Over the years, we have built a strong presence among enterprises by innovating for experience, scale and security."

He added that they see payments as an evolving industry with its own challenges and Cashfree would be investing in next-gen payments as well as banking tech to make payments processing easier and more reliable.

"With the solid foundation of in-house technologies, tech-driven processes, and in-depth industry knowledge, we are confident of growing Cashfree to be the leader in the payments space in India and internationally," said Akash.

Founded in 2015 by Reeju Datta and Akash, Cashfree processes online payments for several Indian businesses. A 2017 Y Combinator alumnus, Cashfree added that it has processed over $12 billion annualised payments as of March 2020.

The press statement shared by the company said Cashfree has been profitable since its first year of operations and counts more than 50,000 businesses amongst its merchants including leading internet companies such as CRED, Bigbasket, Zomato, HDFC Ergo, Ixigo, ACKO Insurance, Zoomcar, and Delhivery among others.

Their bulk disbursal solution - Payouts was launched in 2016, touched over one lakh daily transactions within a year. The platform helps businesses send money instantly to bank accounts, cards, UPI, and wallets with a simple integration.

According to the press statement, this investment comes as Cashfree’s rapid growth has accelerated with rising ecommerce penetration by increasing adoption of Indian businesses and consumers. The investment will support the company’s ambitious growth plans including launching and further rolling out new products.

Joining Cashfree as a board member, Udayan Goyal, Managing Partner and Apis Co-Founder said, “As digital payments proliferate globally, the Indian market continues to represent one of the most exciting opportunities that we see in the world. Cashfree has maintained a leadership position in this space and is now going through a period of rapid growth fuelled by the development of unique and innovative products that serve the needs of its customers. We are delighted to support Cashfree on its exciting journey ahead and to back an exceptional management team who are at the forefront of the continued digitalisation and democratisation of payments in India.”

Cashfree has also introduced solutions such as an instant settlement offering on its payment gateway and a UPI Stack with 15 ready-to-use integrations for all business payment needs including collections, disbursals, and verifications using UPI infrastructure.

The Instant Settlement feature, launched in early 2020, helps enterprises access funds within 15 minutes of payment capture via its payment gateway as compared to the industry standard of two-to-three business days, helping reduce the working capital gap, especially for small to medium size enterprises.

Matteo Stefanel, Managing Partner and Apis Co-Founder said: “As an experienced investor in payments globally, we are thrilled to become a key investor in Cashfree and to partner with Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta who together have built a tremendous business in a highly competitive market such as India. We trust that our investment will further accelerate Cashfree’s growth trajectory and we are excited and proud to partner with the team as they execute their vision of transforming the Indian payments landscape and bringing digital payments to a wider audience.”