Xflow, an Indian fintech startup, has secured backing from each Stripe and PayPal Ventures in a $16.6 million funding spherical. The funding comes as the corporate works to carve out a place in cross-border B2B funds, a market nonetheless dominated by banks and handbook processes.
The Collection A spherical was led by Normal Catalyst, with participation from current traders Sq. Peg, Stripe, Lightspeed, and Moore Capital, whereas PayPal Ventures joined as a brand new backer. The all-equity spherical values the Bengaluru-based startup at $85 million post-investment and brings its whole funding to greater than $32 million thus far.
Regardless of rapid digitization in domestic payments, cross-border B2B transfers for Indian exporters remain heavily reliant on banks, typically with restricted visibility into charges, settlement timelines, and the ultimate quantity obtained in rupees. The friction is especially acute for bigger exporters shifting hundreds of thousands of {dollars} into India to fund salaries and native operations, creating a gap for fintech infrastructure gamers resembling Xflow that promise higher transparency and pace in worldwide cash motion.
Based in 2021, Xflow gives cross-border cost infrastructure for companies starting from exporters and SaaS corporations to platforms and freelancers, enabling them to gather worldwide funds, handle international trade, and settle funds in India.
“Cross-border B2B funds have been caught in a distinct age in comparison with UPI,” co-founder Anand Balaji (pictured above, middle) stated in an interview, referring to India’s extensively used on the spot home funds community, the Unified Funds Interface.
Balaji, who beforehand helped construct out Stripe’s India enterprise, based Xflow with former Stripe colleagues Ashwin Bhatnagar (pictured above, proper) and Abhijit Chandrasekaran (pictured above, left).
Final yr, Xflow stated it enabled Indian companies to gather funds from greater than 100 international locations in over 25 currencies. It processed near $1 billion in annualized cross-border cost quantity final yr, marking roughly 10-fold progress from the identical interval in 2024, Balaji instructed TechCrunch.
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Based on the corporate, its buyer base has expanded to about 15,000 companies spanning SaaS corporations, world functionality facilities (that are offshore models that multinationals function in India), IT companies exporters, freelancers, and fintech platforms.
Transaction sizes fluctuate extensively by phase, with world functionality facilities averaging about $1 million to $2 million per transaction, items exporters round $30,000 to $40,000, and freelancers roughly $3,000, based on Balaji.
Xflow is positioning itself as a funds infrastructure supplier moderately than a direct funds software, providing APIs that permit platforms and exporters to embed cross-border cash motion into their very own merchandise.
“We didn’t wish to construct the subsequent Clever — we wish to energy the subsequent thousand Wises,” Balaji stated.
The startup has additionally launched an AI-based international trade device to assist finance groups optimize the timing of forex conversions. Xflow says the characteristic has generated incremental positive factors for some clients by way of data-driven international trade choices.
The device permits companies to set goal conversion charges moderately than accepting prevailing financial institution quotes. Balaji likened the characteristic to restrict orders in buying and selling — directions to purchase or promote solely at a specified value.
“What we’ve added is the prediction layer and the power to truly set a restrict order,” he stated. The mannequin at present gives a three-day forecast with about 92% confidence, Balaji stated, although TechCrunch couldn’t independently confirm that determine.
Xflow faces competitors from banks that also dominate massive cross-border B2B transfers, in addition to fintech gamers resembling Clever, Payoneer, and Skydo on the decrease finish of the market. However Balaji stated the startup’s deal with high-value transactions and API-led infrastructure differentiates it from many rivals.
The startup plans to deploy the brand new capital towards constructing extra merchandise on high of its core funds infrastructure and securing regulatory licences in new markets, Balaji stated. Xflow is getting ready to roll out import capabilities within the coming months and is pursuing licences in markets together with Singapore, whereas already holding a funds licence in Canada, even because it stays centered on India as its major market.
Xflow stated it has additionally obtained remaining authorisation from the Reserve Financial institution of India for a Fee Aggregator–Cross Border (PA-CB) licence overlaying each exports and imports. The startup has signed platform partnerships with Easebuzz and Drip Capital to embed its cross-border capabilities into their choices.
Backing from Stripe and PayPal Ventures, Balaji stated, has helped strengthen the startup’s credibility with banking and regulatory companions, even because it continues to work with a number of cost suppliers commercially.
The startup at present has about 65 workers because it scales its cross-border infrastructure enterprise.
