PPRO Secures Additional Funding to Expand Localized Payment Solutions

In January, PPRO, a provider of localized payment solutions, achieved a valuation exceeding one billion dollars following a $180 million funding round. Demonstrating the continued importance of payments and e-commerce within the global economy, PPRO has now extended this funding by an additional $90 million, welcoming two new investors.

Strategic Investment from JPMorgan Chase and Eldridge

This latest financing is being provided through strategic investments from both JPMorgan Chase and Eldridge. Notably, this marks the second significant enterprise tech investment for Eldridge this week, following their participation in a $475 million round for Dataminr, a real-time intelligence platform.

The expanded $270 million round, which initially included funding from Eurazeo Growth, Sprints Capital, and Wellington Management, comprises both primary and secondary capital. CEO Simon Black of PPRO confirmed that this recent tranche is primarily focused on the secondary component.

PPRO's Growth and Previous Funding

Prior to this, London-based PPRO (“P-pro” in pronunciation) secured $50 million in August 2020 from Sprints, Citi, and HPE Growth. In 2018, the company raised $50 million, led by strategic investor PayPal.

PPRO’s core offering consists of APIs that enable e-commerce businesses to seamlessly integrate local payment methods and currencies into their checkout processes. This eliminates the need for customers to independently develop these complex integrations.

The company has experienced substantial growth, with transaction volumes increasing by 60% in 2020, reaching $11 billion in processed payments.

JPMorgan Chase's Strategic Alignment with PPRO

JPMorgan Chase, a global financial services leader, aims to enhance its payment services by leveraging existing relationships and expanding its global payment capabilities. Collaboration with PPRO is central to this strategy.

PPRO can contribute in two key areas: increasing the acceptance of JPMorgan Chase’s credit cards in more global markets and providing services to its business banking clients, facilitating expansion into new markets with adaptable, localized payment options.

“We are extending into payments and are looking to double down on addressing the needs of our clients and their clients, which can be consumers, suppliers or marketplace sellers,” stated Sanjay Saraf, managing director and Global Head of the Integrated Payments Group at JPMorgan Chase.

Focus on Latin America and Asia Pacific

The U.S. company intends to strengthen its presence and business operations in Latin America and Asia Pacific, two rapidly growing e-commerce markets.

Trends in Fintech: E-commerce and Global Financial Services

This funding round highlights two significant trends in the fintech sector.

• The continued growth of the e-commerce market, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shift to online transactions.
• The efforts of global financial services companies to maintain relevance by integrating innovations from fintech startups.

The Fragmentation of the Payments Landscape

The payments industry remains highly fragmented. Payment preferences vary significantly between countries; for instance, credit cards are common in the U.S., while Bancontact – a direct bank transfer authorization – is popular in Belgium.

PPRO simplifies this complexity by pre-integrating numerous payment methods and offering them as a service, eliminating the need for manual integration and streamlining the process.

PPRO’s Extensive Partner Network

JPMorgan Chase joins a network of over 100 global customers, including PayPal, Citi, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services, Mollie, and Worldpay. These partners utilize PPRO’s APIs for localized gateway, processing, and merchant acquiring services.

Several other companies are also addressing the need for simplified payment processes, including Rapyd, Mambu, Thought Machine, Temenos, Edera, Adyen, Stripe, and Unit, all of which have secured substantial funding.

Accelerated Demand for Localized Payments

“The past year has been “an acceleration of a trend, where behaviors are being reinforced,” said Black. “At the consumer level, we are buying so many more products and services online, and we value convenience more than ever, which translates to a real strengthening of more demand for local payments.”

Despite the attention surrounding cryptocurrencies, mass-market activity remains focused on more established payment methods. “The big trend is mobile wallets, not bitcoin,” Black emphasized.