Cashfree Payments Raises $53 Million to Expand Its Global Reach
Cashfree Payments, a Bengaluru-based fintech startup, has raised $53 million (approximately Rs 450 crore) in its latest funding round, led by South Korea’s gaming giant, KRAFTON. The round also saw continued investment from Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners Group.
This latest infusion of capital marks Cashfree’s first external funding since June 2021, bringing its total capital raised over the last nine years to about $95 million. This fresh funding is set to fuel the startup’s growth, especially its expansion in international markets and its ongoing innovations in digital payments.
What Does Cashfree Payments Do?
Cashfree Payments offers a range of payment solutions for businesses of all sizes. From processing payments to providing fraud prevention tools, Cashfree is a one-stop-shop for companies looking to streamline their payment processes. The startup is known for its robust payment infrastructure, which can handle up to 12,000 transactions per second during peak demand—a significant advantage for high-volume businesses.
Beyond handling basic payments, Cashfree has also created a number of features to enhance businesses’ payment capabilities. These include:
- Embedded Payments: A solution that allows platforms, ERPs, and SaaS businesses to integrate payments into their existing systems with ease.
- Secure ID: A sophisticated identity verification stack that includes a complete range of APIs and KYC (Know Your Customer) components. It helps businesses detect fraud, streamline user onboarding, and reduce drop-offs.
In short, Cashfree Payments is building a powerful infrastructure that ensures businesses can offer seamless, secure, and scalable payment solutions.
What’s New With This Funding?
The fresh $53 million investment will help Cashfree Payments double down on two key areas:
1. Expanding Globally: Focus on the Middle East and UAE
With the backing of KRAFTON, Cashfree plans to significantly strengthen its presence in India while also expanding globally. The Middle East and the UAE are key areas of interest for the startup, which sees huge potential in these regions for its payment solutions.
Akash Sinha, CEO and co-founder of Cashfree Payments, emphasized that this funding will also help the company push its cross-border payment solutions. This will allow businesses to handle payments across countries seamlessly, which is crucial as global commerce continues to grow.
2. Strengthening Fraud Prevention and Security
As businesses move increasingly online, payment fraud is becoming a larger concern. To tackle this, Cashfree has introduced Secure ID, a sophisticated identity verification solution that helps fintech companies and startups to identify and stop fraud before it becomes a problem. With over one billion identity and user verifications already powered by Secure ID, the tool is already making a significant impact in the fintech space.
Why This Investment is Important
Cashfree Payments’ partnership with KRAFTON is a sign that the fintech space in India is gaining momentum. KRAFTON, the creator of the global hit game PUBG, sees huge potential in India’s rapidly growing fintech market. According to Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of KRAFTON India, Cashfree’s leadership in the Indian market could soon be replicated globally.
As India’s digital payments sector evolves, Cashfree is positioning itself as a leader in offering full-stack payment solutions. These solutions are tailored not just to small businesses but also to the rapidly growing media, entertainment, and gaming sectors, which increasingly rely on seamless payment infrastructure.
Sohn added, “We believe Cashfree’s dominant position in India can be replicated globally. As the media and entertainment sector and content consumption patterns in India continue to evolve, full-stack payment systems that specifically address the needs of the sector are crucial for enhancing user experience.”
How Cashfree is Revolutionizing Payments and Fraud Prevention
Scaling Payments for Businesses
Cashfree Payments is known for its ability to handle massive volumes of transactions. With the ability to process up to 12,000 transactions per second, it provides an incredibly reliable service for businesses that need to scale quickly. Whether it’s a startup or an enterprise, businesses across various industries like e-commerce, SaaS, financial services, and travel can depend on Cashfree to provide a fast, secure, and reliable payment experience.
Innovative Embedded Payments
Embedded payments are another game-changing offering by Cashfree. This feature allows businesses to seamlessly integrate payments directly into their platforms, ERPs, or SaaS products. By doing so, businesses can improve user experience, reduce friction, and ensure they comply with various regulations without needing separate, complex payment systems.
Fighting Fraud with Secure ID
Fraud prevention is one of the most pressing concerns in the digital age, and Cashfree is actively addressing this through Secure ID. This tool combines advanced identity verification technology with a comprehensive suite of KYC features to help fintech companies prevent fraud in real-time. It streamlines the process of onboarding new users while ensuring that the platform can identify fraudulent activities quickly and accurately.
By helping businesses authenticate users and detect fraud more efficiently, Cashfree not only secures the transaction process but also reduces drop-offs during user onboarding—an issue that many fintech companies face.
Cashfree’s Current Clientele and Market Position
Cashfree Payments is already trusted by several major brands, including Swiggy, Zepto, Big Basket, redBus, and Bajaj Finance. Its robust payment infrastructure supports these businesses in managing everything from everyday transactions to complex cross-border payments.
With its wide range of offerings and strategic collaborations, Cashfree is positioning itself as the go-to payments platform for businesses of all sizes. It currently holds three major licences that enable it to operate across various sectors:
- Online Payment Aggregator Licence
- Payment Aggregator Licence for Cross-Border Payments
- Prepaid Payments Instrument (PPI) Authorisation
These licences allow Cashfree to offer a wide range of services to businesses and ensure that they can operate smoothly within India’s regulatory framework.
What’s Next for Cashfree Payments?
As Cashfree Payments looks to the future, it plans to keep expanding its product offerings and market reach. The new funds will help the company scale its cross-border payment solutions, strengthen its fraud prevention tools, and roll out innovative features like Embedded Payments to enhance the user experience for businesses across the globe.
With KRAFTON’s backing and its robust product suite, Cashfree is well-positioned to lead the charge in India’s fast-growing fintech landscape. Whether it’s global expansion or enhanced payment security, Cashfree is focused on becoming a key player in the global digital payments ecosystem.
Conclusion: A Bright Future Ahead for Cashfree Payments
Cashfree Payments’ latest funding round, led by KRAFTON, is a significant milestone for the Bengaluru-based fintech startup. With $53 million in new capital, the company plans to accelerate its efforts in global expansion, fraud prevention, and cross-border payments, while continuing to enhance its offerings for businesses of all sizes. As it builds on its successes and scales up operations, Cashfree is set to play an even bigger role in shaping the future of payments—not just in India, but globally.
For businesses looking for seamless, secure, and scalable payment solutions, Cashfree Payments is certainly a company to watch in the coming years.
