Xflow, a fintech startup from India, has garnered investment from Stripe and PayPal Ventures in a funding round totaling $16.6 million. This funding arrives as the firm seeks to establish its presence in the cross-border B2B payments sector, which remains largely controlled by banks and manual procedures.

General Catalyst spearheaded the Series A round, joined by existing backers Square Peg, Stripe, Lightspeed, and Moore Capital, with PayPal Ventures coming on board as a new investor. The all-equity round places the Bengaluru-based startup’s valuation at $85 million post-investment, raising its cumulative funding to over $32 million to date.

Even with the swift digitization of domestic payments, Indian exporters still heavily depend on banks for cross-border B2B transactions, often experiencing a lack of clarity regarding fees, settlement durations, and the ultimate amount received in rupees. This issue is particularly pressing for larger exporters transferring millions of dollars into India to support salaries and local activities, creating an opportunity for fintech infrastructure solutions like Xflow that aim to provide enhanced transparency and efficiency in international fund transfers.

Established in 2021, Xflow delivers cross-border payment solutions for various businesses, including exporters, SaaS companies, platforms, and freelancers, allowing them to receive international payments, handle foreign exchange, and settle funds in India.

“Cross-border B2B payments have lagged behind in comparison to UPI,” co-founder Anand Balaji (shown above, center) remarked during an interview, referring to India’s popular instant domestic payment framework, the Unified Payments Interface.

Balaji, who was instrumental in expanding Stripe’s India operations, co-founded Xflow alongside former Stripe associates Ashwin Bhatnagar (shown above, right) and Abhijit Chandrasekaran (shown above, left).

Last year, Xflow reported facilitating payment collections for Indian businesses from over 100 countries in more than 25 currencies, processing nearly $1 billion in annualized cross-border payment volume, representing a growth approximately tenfold from the same period in 2024, Balaji shared with TechCrunch.

As per the company, its client roster has grown to around 15,000 businesses, including SaaS companies, global capability centers (offshore units operated by multinationals in India), IT services exporters, freelancers, and fintech platforms.

Transaction sizes differ significantly across segments, with global capability centers averaging transactions between $1 million and $2 million, goods exporters at about $30,000 to $40,000, and freelancers averaging around $3,000, according to Balaji.

Xflow is positioning itself primarily as a payment infrastructure provider rather than a direct payments application, offering APIs that enable platforms and exporters to integrate cross-border money transfers into their own services.

“We didn’t aim to create the next Wise — we aspire to empower the next thousand Wises,” Balaji stated.

The startup has also launched an AI-driven foreign exchange tool designed to assist finance teams in optimizing the timing of currency conversions. Xflow claims this feature has provided additional benefits for several clients via data-informed foreign exchange decisions.

The tool enables businesses to specify target conversion rates instead of merely accepting current bank offers. Balaji compared this feature to limit orders in trading — directives to buy or sell only at predetermined prices.

“What we’ve introduced is the prediction layer and the capability to actually set a limit order,” he articulated. The current model provides a three-day forecast with approximately 92% confidence, Balaji noted, although TechCrunch could not verify this statistic independently.

Xflow contends with competition from banks that continue to dominate large cross-border B2B transfers, as well as fintech companies like Wise, Payoneer, and Skydo at the lower end of the market. Nevertheless, Balaji asserted that the startup’s emphasis on high-value transactions and API-centric infrastructure sets it apart from many competitors.

The startup aims to allocate the new funds toward developing additional products atop its core payment infrastructure and obtaining regulatory licenses in new markets, Balaji mentioned. Xflow is set to introduce import capabilities in the upcoming months and is pursuing licenses in markets such as Singapore, while already possessing a payments license in Canada, all while maintaining India as its primary focus.

Xflow announced it has received final approval from the Reserve Bank of India for a Payment Aggregator–Cross Border (PA-CB) license that encompasses both exports and imports. The startup has established platform partnerships with Easebuzz and Drip Capital to incorporate its cross-border functionalities into their services.

Support from Stripe and PayPal Ventures, Balaji stated, has bolstered the startup’s reputation among banking and regulatory partners, even as it continues to collaborate with multiple payment providers commercially.

The startup currently employs approximately 65 individuals as it expands its cross-border infrastructure operations.