Brands
Cashfree Payments secures $53 million in funding round led by Krafton
MUMBAI: Digital payments are moving at breakneck speed, and Cashfree Payments is keeping pace like a fintech sprinter on a caffeine high. The company has just bagged a cool $53 million (Rs 450 crore) in a funding round led by Korean digital entertainment giant Krafton, with continued backing from Apis Growth Fund II, managed by Apis Partners Group (UK) Limited. This fresh infusion of cash is set to supercharge innovation, fuel market expansion, and catapult Cashfree onto the global stage.
At its heart, Cashfree Payments is all about making transactions effortless—helping businesses collect payments, send payouts instantly, verify identities, and sniff out fraud before it even thinks about knocking. And the numbers don’t lie: merchant signups have skyrocketed 130% year-over-year, proving that Cashfree is scaling faster than your last online shopping spree.
With a mission to redefine digital transactions, Cashfree enables businesses to start accepting payments within a day through popular platforms like Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, and WhatsApp.
Cashfree Payments CEO & co-founder Akash Sinha shared his excitement, “We are excited to welcome Krafton as a strategic partner with continued support from our existing investors, Apis Growth Fund II and the team at Apis Partners. Our mission at Cashfree Payments has been to empower Indian businesses with the ability to transact in the digital economy with unparalleled security and efficiency. This investment will help us accelerate our key efforts – across cross-border and security innovations and international expansion – as we enter the next phase of our growth journey. Growing sustainably has been core to our identity and how we function at Cashfree Payments. We are focused on driving profitable growth as we scale. Our mission is clear: to create long-term value for our customers and lead innovation in the payments space, both in India and internationally.”
Krafton sees Cashfree’s market dominance as a springboard for global expansion. Krafton India CEO Sean Hyunil Sohn highlighted, “India’s fintech industry is experiencing remarkable growth, and we believe Cashfree Payment’s dominant position in India can be replicated globally. As the media and entertainment sector and content consumption patterns in India continue to evolve, full-stack payment systems that specifically address the needs and requirements of the sector are crucial for enhancing user experience. The investment is part of Krafton’s ongoing efforts to support innovative solutions that drive growth and foster a dynamic startup ecosystem. We look forward to further strengthening this partnership and exploring future opportunities.”
Adding to this, Apis Partners co-founders & managing partners, Matteo Stefanel and Udayan Goyal stated, “As an industry leader with a history of pioneering innovations, Cashfree Payments’ proven track record continues to put it in a leadership position. We are excited to continue our support for its continued growth and success. Apis’ investment philosophy is that there should be no trade-off between returns for LPs and positive societal impact, and the investment in Cashfree is proving to be a perfect example of that.”
Among Cashfree’s latest advancements is Secure ID, a comprehensive identity verification stack designed to curb fraud.
. AI-powered KYC flows that minimise user input and reduce drop-offs.
. Intelligent fraud detection that reads and verifies identity documents with pinpoint accuracy.
. Over 1 billion identity and user verifications completed to date.
As security threats evolve, Cashfree is doubling down on tech-driven solutions that protect both businesses and consumers.
With $80 billion in annual transactions and a customer base of eight lakh businesses, including Swiggy, redbus, Zepto, bigbasket, and Bajaj Finance, Cashfree is not slowing down. The company is authorised by the RBI to operate as a payment aggregator for domestic and cross-border payments, making it one of the first entities in India with such approval.
Beyond India, Cashfree is expanding into the UAE and exploring opportunities across the Middle East, further solidifying its global ambitions.
Brands
Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
