Ecuadorian payments infrastructure company Kushki has raised $100 million in an extension to its Series B round, more than doubling its valuation to $1.5 billion.
The startup had raised $86 million in the first tranche of the financing in June of 2021 at a post-money valuation of $600 million.
It has raised nearly $200 million since its 2017 inception, according to Crunchbase.
Raising an extension as opposed to a new round made more sense because it was the same investors doubling down, according to CEO and co-founder Aron Schwarzkopf.
Those backers include Kaszek Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, SoftBank Latin America Fund, and DILA Capital, among others.
The raise comes after a year in which Kushki saw 200% revenue growth, he said, declining to reveal hard revenue figures.
It also follows a quarter in which the company grew by 100% year over year.
Put simply, Kushki aims to help make it easier, cheaper, and more secure for businesses across LatAm to send and receive/process digital payments.
Specifically, it enables LatAm businesses to accept payments globally and receive money in their local currency.
The end goal is to help these businesses — such as digital banks — grow faster online and drive consumer adoption of digital payments. At the same time, Kushki claims its infrastructure can help boost acceptance rates and reduce fraud.
In technical terms, Kushki has developed an API that gives businesses a way to interact with “all the information” they need to integrate its payment technology into their business.
Kushki has “hundreds” of customers, including Telefónica, Claro, Credijusto, Colombian on-demand delivery unicorn Rappi, Santander, and others.
Today, the startup operates in five countries: Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Chile.
Its team of 750 employees, up from just over 100 in mid-2020, is composed of 70% product and engineering staff, and the company has offices located all over the world, with staff located in the U.S., Europe, APAC, and Brazil.
The company plans to use the capital primarily to advance its mission to develop “a modern payment infrastructure for Latin America that facilitates payment transactions of any type in any country.”
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