**Cashfree Payments Secures $53 Million to Boost Cross-Border Payment Expansion**
Bengaluru: Cashfree Payments is set to aggressively enhance its cross-border payments services following a recent funding round that raised $53 million. The round was led by South Korean media giant Krafton, alongside existing investor Apis Growth Fund II, elevating the company’s valuation to $700 million, as reported by sources familiar with the matter.
In the wake of this funding, co-founder and CEO Akash Sinha shared that the company will concentrate on three primary areas: customer experience, merchant experience, and payments infrastructure. International growth and cross-border payments will form a fourth pillar, targeted for 2025. “The product is already operational with a few beta customers, and we expect to scale significantly this year,” Sinha stated.
Cashfree aims to expand its presence in the Middle East, leveraging its acquisition of UAE-based payments firm Telr from three years ago. Sinha noted, “India is at the forefront of the fintech sector, allowing us to draw valuable insights from this market and apply them to developing regions experiencing similar payment scaling.”
Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Kuwait are developing domestic payment systems akin to India’s UPI and RuPay networks. Currently, international markets contribute 10-15% to Cashfree’s revenue. While Sinha does not foresee a major shift in revenue generation from India, he believes that international markets will serve as a significant growth driver.
Krafton, typically focused on consumer internet and media investments, has chosen to support Cashfree as part of a forward-looking strategy. “We made this investment with a vision for the future,” said Nihansh Bhat, Krafton’s corporate development and investment lead for India, the Middle East, and North Africa. The firm plans to explore sectors beyond its current investments.
Cashfree’s ambition remains to grow its business by four to five times, capitalizing on the expanding payment-first segments such as business-to-consumer, e-commerce, travel, and hyper-local delivery. Currently, the company has no immediate plans for an initial public offering.
