Led by South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON, the round also saw participation from existing investor Apis Partners

Cashfree plans to utilise the fresh capital to bolster its payments offerings, shore up cross-border offerings and fuel international expansion

Founded in 2015, Cashfree operates a full-stack digital payments solution platform that helps businesses collect payments online and make payouts

B2B fintech startup Cashfree Payments has raised $53 Mn (around INR 450 Cr) in its Series C funding round led by South Korean gaming giant KRAFTON.

The round also saw participation from existing investor Apis Partners, which infused capital via its private equity (PE) fund Apis Growth Fund II.

The fintech startup, in a statement, said it plans to utilise the fresh capital to bolster its payments offerings, expand market outreach, shore up cross-border offerings and fuel international expansion. Cashfree said that the round will enable it to leverage synergies with KRAFTON, fuel innovation and develop new solutions across multiple digital sectors.

“We are excited to welcome KRAFTON as a strategic partner with continued support from our existing investors, Apis Growth Fund II and the team at Apis Partners… This investment will help us accelerate our key efforts – across cross-border and security innovations and international expansion – as we enter the next phase of our growth journey…,” said Cashfree Payments cofounder and CEO Akash Sinha.

Founded in 2015 by Sinha and Reeju Datta, Cashfree operates a full-stack digital payments solutions platform that helps businesses collect online payments and make payouts. Besides integration with popular merchant platforms, the fintech platform also offers an embedded payments offering.

It counts the likes of Y Combinator, State Bank of India, Trifecta Capital Advisors, among others, as its investors.

In July last year, the Bengaluru-based fintech startup became the first entity to secure the payment aggregator cross border (PA-CB) licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Last year, Cashfree also received the RBI’s prepaid payment instrument (PPI) licence to facilitate purchase and fund transfer against a preloaded value.

In the statement, Cashfree also claimed that its merchant sign-ups have surged 130% in FY25 compared to “previous years”, adding that it currently processes $80 Bn annually and works with 8 Lakh businesses.

On the financial front, the startup’s net loss widened 2.17% to INR 136 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 133.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue increased 4.19% to INR 639.3 Cr in the fiscal under review from the reported INR 613.6 Cr in FY23.