British fintech Checkout.com, a specialist in online payments, has just completed a record-breaking $1 billion round of financing. This brings its valuation to $40 billion, up from $15 billion just a year ago.
Checkout.com, 3rd private fintech worldwide
Founded in 2012, British fintech Checkout.com is an online payment platform, bridging the gap between its merchant customers and consumers.
" Our primary mission is to help merchants manage the complexity of financial transactions worldwide, whether they work with fiat currency or Web3," explains Guillaume Pousaz, founder and CEO.
Competing with players such as Dutch fintech Adyen and American giant Stripe, its recent fundraising has put it in third place among private fintechs worldwide.
Checkout.com has just raised $1 billion, or 880 million euros, taking its valuation to $40 billion, up from $15 billion a year earlier.
The British fintech's historic investors took part in the deal, along with some very important new investors, including GIC, Qatar Investment Authority, Dragoneer, Insight Partners, Franklin Templeton and The Oxford Endowment Fund, " as well as a major US West Coast mutual fund management company ", Checkout.com said in a recent press release.
A boom partly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic
The British fintech benefited from the Covid-19 pandemic, which boosted e-commerce and accelerated the digitization of payments.
In just one year, the online payment platform has tripled the volume of transactions processed in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and almost doubled its workforce. From 1,000 a year ago, it now has 1,700 employees in 19 countries. Its valuation has increased 20-fold since May 2019, the date of its first fundraising.
Checkout.com intends to use the money to expand its presence in the US market, " drive innovation on Web3 " and continue to evolve its technology platform. In particular, the fintech plans to launch a new offering to integrate payments from marketplaces. Already tested with a number of merchants, this offering will be marketed during 2022.
Checkout.com is also looking to step up its efforts in " emerging technologies such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs ", which it sees as an opportunity for online payment players. " The company is currently testing an innovative solution for settling transactions using digital currencies," Checkout.com revealed in its release.
The British fintech already processes large volumes of transactions for companies such as TikTok, Netflix, Shein, Sony, Pizza Hut, Siemens, as well as " half of the world's leading cryptocurrency players, including Coinbase, Crypto.com, FTX and Moonpay ".