Citcon closes $30m Series C funding

By Edlyn Cardoza

Citcon, the leading mobile wallet payment provider enabling global commerce at scale, recently announced that it has received $30 million in Series C financing led by Norwest Venture Partners and Cota Capital. Sierra Ventures and Sonae IM also joined the round. The new funding will support the rapid addition of world-class staff and global expansion that builds on the company’s international presence on four continents.

“Citcon enables global commerce at scale by allowing merchants to accept payments by mobile wallet and alternative currencies with the same ease as they process traditional credit card payments today,” said Chuck Huang, CEO, and founder at Citcon. “We are honored to have earned the support of incredible investors that will strengthen our efforts to continue driving innovation and global expansion.”

Moving into the final half of 2021, Citcon’s annualized payment volume is more than $1 billion, representing 300%+ year-on-year growth. With the acceleration of cross-border commerce and evolving consumer preferences, Citcon’s offerings strongly resonate with global merchants, as well as domestic companies seeking to serve global customers. Citcon payment solutions are currently deployed at more than 30,000 merchants’ sites and locations, including world-renowned brands such as L’Oreal, Tumi, Texas Instruments, Revolve, Macy’s, and Panda Express.

Citcon’s global enterprise payments gateway allows merchants to participate in global commerce by enabling secure online or in-store transactions with more than 100 different payment methods, including mobile wallets, local payment schemes, and traditional credit cards — all through one single integration and reconciliation platform. Citcon’s solution integrates a variety of globally popular digital wallet brands including PayPal, Venmo, AliPay, WeChat Pay, as well as buy now pay later services, cryptocurrency, and more.

In the past quarter, the company has added key members to its executive team, including Andrew Meimes, former vice president of Mastercard’s Pre-paid Unit in Japan, who joined as vice president and general manager in Asia; Dan Farrell, former vice president of sales at Loop Commerce, who joined as VP, GM of E-commerce; and Jamie Elgie, former CMO of Wilson Electronics, who joined as vice president and head of marketing. Citcon is also rolling out new programs to accelerate the retail adoption of wallets with PayPal and Venmo, as well as integrating their solution with new partners ranging from Toshiba and Cegid to Shopify, Oracle, and SAP.

“Citcon is addressing the global digital wallet market with an omnichannel payments platform that creates a simple, efficient, and safe way for merchants to accept alternative and traditional payments,” said Priti Youssef Choksi, partner of Norwest Venture Partners. “As mobile wallets continue toward ubiquity, buoyed by today’s post-Covid consumer behaviors, we expect to see explosive growth in this category and we believe Citcon has the ingredients to own the leadership position.”

Cross-border e-commerce is expected to continue its torrid expansion, growing at 27% CAGR to reach $4.8T by 2026. This growing, connected, global marketplace is being fueled by consumer interest in software-based, handset agnostic, and bank-free payment methods like AliPay, WeChat Pay, PayPal, Venmo, and emerging payment schemes from cryptocurrencies to buy now, pay later services. By contrast, traditional credit card penetration has not kept pace with globalization. In 2020, credit card penetration stood at 3% in India and 21% in China, while in 2017 averaged just 33% in Europe, 14% in Latin America, and 17% in Asia.

“Citcon allows merchants to tap into the marketplace of more than two billion mobile wallet users worldwide,” said Ben Malka, Partner at Cota Capital. “Providing merchants with globally preferred payment methods ensures that merchants can attract customers, successfully enter new markets, and improve customer experience. Citcon is already powering top merchants’ global payments and continues to see growth year on year. We are delighted to be able to partner with Citcon and provide support as it enters a new era of growth.”