In today’s top payments news around the world, PPRO upped its latest funding round to $270 million, while Sequoia Capital India’s Surge accelerator announced that it has closed its second round of seed funding at $195 million. Plus, China’s central bank said it planned digital yuan will not replace the payment services of the country’s big FinTech firms.
PPRO Boosts Funding Round To $270 Million With JPMorgan, Eldridge
PPRO, the U.K.-based payments technology company, upped its newest funding round to $270 million with investments from Eldridge and J.P. Morgan Chase. PPRO CEO Simon Black said in a press release that the infusion will be harnessed to strengthen and expand “our local and alternative payment capabilities.” In 2020, PPRO processed over $11 billion for its corporate clients. The firm has teamed with many different local payment companies and has more than 300 people working for it throughout the world.
Surge Announces $195 Million In Funding To Back Startups In India, SE Asia
Sequoia Capital India’s Surge accelerator revealed Thursday (March 25) that it wrapped up round two of seed funding at $195 million, targeted toward supporting upstarts throughout India and Southeast Asia. “While we are early in our journey, we’ve been amazed at how quickly the ecosystem has deepened over the last 24 months, thrilled by the caliber of founders we’ve been privileged to partner with, and incredibly excited by how much they’ve achieved in such a short period of time,” Surge said in its release.
China’s Central Bank: Digital Yuan Won’t Replace Alipay, WeChat Pay
The central bank of China said its planned digital yuan will not displace the payment services of the nation’s large FinTech firms, such as WeChat Pay of Tencent Holdings and Alipay of Ant Group. Mu Changchun, director of the central bank’s digital currency institute, noted that the digital yuan could function as a backup to WeChat Pay and Alipay if they were to undergo financial or technical difficulties, which could possibly impact China’s financial stability. In aggregate, the two comprise roughly 98 percent of the nation’s mobile payments market.
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