PayPal and Stripe Pour $16.6 Million Into Indian Cross-Border Payments Startup

PayPal and Stripe Pour $16.6 Million Into Indian Cross-Border Payments Startup

PayPal and Stripe have backed Indian fintech Xflow in a $16.6 million Series A round, a rare instance of two payments giants jointly investing in a potential competitor as they chase growth in one of the world's fastest-expanding digital payments markets.

The Bengaluru-based startup, which handles cross-border transactions for roughly 15,000 business clients, now carries an $85 million valuation after the funding round led by General Catalyst. Existing investors Square Peg, Lightspeed, and Moore Capital participated alongside Stripe, which had previously backed the company, while PayPal Ventures joined as a new investor. Xflow has raised more than $32 million since its 2021 founding.

For CFOs watching the cross-border payments space, the deal signals where the infrastructure is heading: not replacing the big processors, but plugging into them. Xflow doesn't compete with Stripe or PayPal on consumer checkout—it focuses on the messy back-end work of moving money across borders while staying compliant with multiple jurisdictions. That's the part that keeps finance teams up at night, particularly for companies scaling internationally.

The company processed close to $1 billion in annualized cross-border payment volume last year, representing roughly tenfold growth from 2024. (That's the kind of hockey-stick trajectory that gets payments companies interested, even if it means funding someone who might eventually eat part of their lunch.) Xflow enables Indian businesses to collect payments from more than 100 countries in over 25 currencies, according to the company.

Here's what makes this interesting from a finance operations perspective: Xflow recently launched an AI-driven foreign exchange tool designed to optimize currency conversions. For companies moving significant volume across borders, even marginal improvements in FX efficiency can translate to meaningful savings. The question is whether the AI actually delivers better rates than shopping around manually—something finance teams will need to test rather than take on faith.

The startup plans to use the funding to expand its product offerings and pursue licenses in new markets, including Singapore, while keeping its primary focus on India. That licensing strategy matters. Cross-border payments remain a patchwork of regulatory regimes, and companies that can navigate multiple jurisdictions without forcing clients to set up separate entities have a genuine operational advantage.

The joint investment by PayPal and Stripe is worth noting. These companies don't typically co-invest in early-stage fintechs, and when they do, it suggests they see the market as big enough that cooperation beats competition—at least for now. It also means Xflow gets access to both companies' networks and expertise, which could accelerate its expansion into new corridors.

For finance leaders evaluating cross-border payment solutions, the takeaway isn't that Xflow is necessarily the answer—it's that the infrastructure layer is getting serious attention and capital. The days of accepting whatever rates and timelines your bank offers are ending, but the new solutions still need to prove they can handle volume, stay compliant, and actually save money at scale.