'Send now, pay later' startup Pomelo lands $35M Series A from secretive Vy Capital, Founders Fund
Summary
Pomelo, a startup that combines international money transfer with credit, has raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Dubai venture firm Vy Capital, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. TechCrunch covered Pomelos Founders Fund-led $20 million seed funding in 2022.New backer Vy Capital is an under-the-radar investment firm that has grown to over $5 billion in assets and made headlines for backing Elon Musk in his purchase of Twitter.Pomelos new round was among Keith Rabois last deals before recently leaving Founders Fund for Khosla Ventures, and he continues to sit on its board.Both Keith Rabois and Kevin Hartz went super pro rata on this round, Pomelo founder and CEO Eric Velasquez Frenkiel said in an interview with TechCrunch, describing the Series A round as preemptive. The company makes money mostly through interchange revenue, and foreign exchange is a smaller component.Since its 2022 launch, Pomelo has added new payment options including most recently, the ability for users to send funds to GCash, a popular e-wallet (similar to Venmo in the U.S.) in the Philippines, in addition to cards. He relates the story of customer Danette Flores, a nurse who sends money to two family members in the Philippines with Pomelo.My mom had suffered a heart attack, and she needed to be transferred to the ICU, but the hospital required proof of payment for that. And experts say fintechs are giving banks a run for their money (pun intended) here, especially in the business-to-business sector where artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain come into play all emerging technologies fintechs love.But there are other startups focused on the consumer market, including Alza, a startup aimed at helping meet the various banking needs of Latin or Central Americans who have moved to the U.S. With Alza, users get an FDIC-insured checking account and debit card.