Checkout.com, a global payment gateway with presence in MENA raises $230 million Series A, plans expansion to Jordan & Pakistan

Checkout.com, a leading global payment solutions provider with big presence in MENA has raised $230 million in its massive Series A round that happens to be of the largest of its kind for a fintech startup in the world, the startup announced on Thursday. It is the first ever external investment raised by Checkout.com. Founded in 2012 by Guillaume Pousaz, the London-headquartered startup apparently had been bootstrapped all this time. Reports by The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times suggest that the round came at a valuation close to $2 billion. 

The investment was led by Insight Partners and DST Global and joined by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Blossom Capital, Endeavor Catalyst and other strategic investors, Checkout.com said in a statement. 

Checkout.com, like its US rival Stripe and European rival Ayden offers digital payment solutions to startups and technology companies through API integration. As the startup notes on its website, its payment processing platform features in-country acquiring, relevant payment methods, feature parity across geographies, fraud filters and reporting features, via one API. Checkout.com’s payment solutions are being used by businesses in Europe, the US and the Middle East help them process payments in more than 150 currencies, with direct access to Visa, Mastercard, American Express, all major international cards, as well as popular alternative and local payment methods.

The startup currently provides payment solutions in all GCC countries and Egypt, and has its regional office in Dubai.

Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, Checkout.com’s VP Business Development for MENA, speaking to MENAbytes said that they’re currently the leading player in MENA in terms of gross value of the transactions they process, “There are various reports that evaluate the ecommerce volumes of the region. Based on those reports we are undoubtedly the leaders, as we process billions of dollars in ecommerce per year for GCC merchants.”

But is still less than one-tenth of their global business, Remo added.

Their solutions are currently being used by some of the largest ecommerce companies in the region including Talabat, Zomato, HungerStation, Almosafer, Flyin.com, Rehlat, Awok, Sharaf DG, The Entertainer, and OSN.

Remo also said that they plan to use the investment to further strengthen their leading position in the market and expand to Jordan and Pakistan within the next twelve months.

Guillaume Pousaz, Founder & CEO in a statement, said, “We have been fortunate to have some of the world’s leading investors approach us for some time but our focus has remained on building the very best suite of products we can for our merchants on four continents. Having built a sustainable business, one hire at a time, it was crucial to find partners that share our vision of how enterprise businesses will consume financial services in the future. We have anticipated this from our early days and have designed Checkout.com’s platform from the outset so that we can easily deliver incremental services to our customers as the company expands its offering.”

“Bringing world-class investors on board for our first funding round is a validation of everything the Checkout.com team has worked hard to achieve over the years and a way to flag just how serious we are about building a global leader that can serve any business, in any geography. The capital will help us increase the speed at which we roll out new products to address our merchants increasingly complex needs. Performance in payments and data streams are key drivers of success for merchants. Our objective remains to help our customers to grow their businesses, by providing them with the solutions and insights they need to win market share,” he added.

H/T: Omar Kassim