Indian fintech startup Xflow has secured $16.6 million in a Series A funding round backed by payments giants Stripe and PayPal Ventures. The investment, which values the Bengaluru-based company at $85 million, will fuel its expansion in the cross-border B2B payments market, a sector still dominated by traditional banking channels.
Founded in 2021 by former Stripe employees Anand Balaji, Ashwin Bhatnagar, and Abhijit Chandrasekaran, Xflow provides API-based infrastructure allowing businesses to embed international payments, foreign exchange, and fund settlement into their own products. The startup processed close to $1 billion in annualised payment volume last year, serving approximately 15,000 businesses.
Filling a Digital Gap in Global Trade
Despite India's rapid adoption of instant domestic payment systems like UPI, cross-border transactions for exporters remain fraught with friction. Businesses often face limited visibility on fees, settlement timelines, and final rupee amounts received. "Cross-border B2B payments were stuck in a different age compared to UPI," co-founder Anand Balaji told TechCrunch, highlighting the market opportunity.
The startup's customer base spans SaaS firms, global capability centres (GCCs), IT services exporters, freelancers, and fintech platforms. Transaction sizes vary significantly, with GCCs averaging $1-2 million per transaction, goods exporters around $30,000-40,000, and freelancers roughly $3,000.
Strategic Backing and Product Roadmap
The funding round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from existing investors Square Peg, Stripe, Lightspeed, and Moore Capital. PayPal Ventures joined as a new investor. Balaji stated that backing from these established players has strengthened Xflow's credibility with banking and regulatory partners.
Xflow plans to use the capital to build additional products and secure regulatory licenses in new markets like Canada and Singapore, while maintaining its primary focus on India. The company has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India for a Payment Aggregator–Cross Border (PA-CB) license and is preparing to roll out import capabilities in the coming months.
AI and Competitive Differentiation
To differentiate itself from competitors like Wise, Payoneer, and Skydo, Xflow positions itself as an infrastructure provider rather than a direct application. "We didn’t want to build the next Wise — we want to power the next thousand Wises," Balaji said.
The startup has also introduced an AI-based foreign exchange tool, allowing businesses to set target conversion rates akin to limit orders in trading. The model provides a three-day forecast with about 92% confidence, according to the company, helping finance teams optimise the timing of currency conversions.
With 65 employees, Xflow continues to scale its operations, leveraging platform partnerships with firms like Easebuzz and Drip Capital to embed its cross-border capabilities into their offerings.