PPRO raises $180 million, hits $1 billion valuation after year of growth
By Sunniva Kolostyak
Local payments infrastructure provider PPRO has secured over $180 million in new investments from Eurazeo Growth, Sprints Capital and Wellington Management following a doubling of year-on-year transaction volumes.
With the investments, which were raised just six months after a $50 million round, the FinTech is now valued at over $1 billion,
According to Simon Black, the CEO of PPRO, the valuation is underscored by its rapid growth in 2020 – the now-unicorn doubled its year-on-year transaction volumes in the fourth quarter and expanded its global team by 60 per cent over the year. It has also developed new strategic partnerships with local payment methods in high-growth markets like Indonesia and Singapore.
The funding will fuel PPRO’s continued global expansion and support the development of its innovative border-free payment technology and services, Black said.
“Beyond securing the support of such prestigious investors and achieving a milestone valuation, we’ve enabled our customers to grow at record numbers during what has been a tough time for many. By giving businesses the ability to offer payment choice, we’ve helped give people around the world better access to goods and services that improve their lives.”
Black continued: “Our unique local payments infrastructure empowers our customers to quickly increase their global footprint. This investment will help us deliver the highest performance possible for companies leading the global payments industry.”
As e-commerce continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, businesses are being pressed to offer seamless checkout experiences and locally preferred payment options.
PPRO allows payment services providers and enterprises with payment platforms to plug in via APIs and offload complexities and costs of providing payment methods to local consumers. This at a time where e-commerce is growing, and businesses are being pressed to offer seamless checkout experiences and local payment options.
The company’s singular focus on local payment methods helps its customers rapidly speed up time to market and reduce operational costs up to 10 times.
Also commenting on the investments, Nathalie Kornhoff-Brüls, Managing Director at Eurazeo Growth, said: “We are delighted to support Simon and the team at PPRO as they continue to develop best-in-class local payment solutions.”
“All signs for the future indicate that digital commerce, and even more so cross-border commerce, will continue to grow exponentially while innovation in payment methods remains strong. As a result, facilitating local payments is becoming increasingly complex. Payment service providers, however, no longer have a choice as merchants and their customers are pushing for the adoption.”
Voria Fattahi, Partner at Sprints Capital, added: “PPRO has proven to be the go-to problem solver in this area, providing the local payments technology and expertise that the world’s biggest payment players rely on. Our investment reflects our confidence in the growth potential for PPRO and we’re excited to support PPRO and its team on their journey.”
Financial Technology Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor and Noerr as legal advisor to PPRO in the transaction.
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