State Bank of India (SBI) is the latest investor to pump in money in Bengaluru-based startup Cashfree. The investment comes months after Cashfree raised $35 million in November 2020 in Series B funding from Apis Growth Fund II and Y Combinator. The companies valued Cashfree at $200 million. Neither SBI nor Cashfree has disclosed the amount invested in the homegrown startup.
Some of the leading platforms like Nykaa, Delhivery, Zomato, CRED, Acko and Shell use Cashfree's payment processing platform for payments and e-marketplace settlements. It also counts Xiaomi, Tencent, Zoomcar, Club Factory, Google-backed Dunzo as well as donation platforms like Ketto and Milaap amongst its customers.
Cashfree, which is a digital payments firm, said the company is "excited" about the partnership with SBI, which is the country's trusted public lender.
"We are excited about our partnership with the country's trusted and leading lender SBI...the investment fits perfectly with our growth strategy as we continue to focus on customer experience and product innovation," Akash Sinha, co-founder and CEO, Cashfree, said on Monday.
Cashfree was launched in 2015 as a payment gateway. In mid-2016, Cashfree decided to work on building a dedicated bulk Payouts solution for businesses operating in India.
The company works with banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank to build the core payments and banking infrastructure. The platform is also integrated with major platforms like Shopify, Wix, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Ola Money and Google Pay.
With the current investment, SBI has joined other companies like Apis Partners, Smilegate and Y Combinator that have invested money in Cashfree.
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