Xflow Raises $16.6M for B2B Payments API
Bangalore-based Xflow, a B2B payments infrastructure provider, has closed a $16.6 million Series A funding round at an $85 million valuation. The round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from Stripe and PayPal Ventures. Xflow's unified API is designed to solve cross-border payment complexities for Indian SaaS and HR tech companies that are scaling globally.
- The founding team, Anand Balaji, Ashwin Bhatnagar, and Abhijit Chandrasekaran, consists of former Stripe leaders who are leveraging their experience to build payment infrastructure. - Xflow processed nearly $1 billion in annualized payment volume last year, representing 10x growth from 2024, and currently serves around 15,000 businesses with transaction sizes ranging from $3,000 to over $1 million. - The company has secured a final Payment Aggregator–Cross Border (PA-CB) license from the Reserve Bank of India for both exports and imports, a significant regulatory step that strengthens its market position. - The investment from General Catalyst aligns with the VC firm's recent commitment to deploy $5 billion in India, targeting key sectors including fintech and AI. - Xflow's API directly addresses common cross-border payment issues for Indian firms, such as multi-day settlement delays and the manual generation of compliance documents like Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA), by offering 24-hour settlements and automated documentation. - The go-to-market strategy for API-first products targeting technical buyers, like those in HR tech, is shifting from traditional sales structures to leaner, signal-driven approaches where founder-led communication and credibility are critical for building trust. - India's HR technology market is projected to reach $2.3 billion by 2034, with a growing number of companies seeking API-driven, "best-in-breed" solutions for functions like payroll and compliance, creating a strong downstream market for integrated payment infrastructure. - Modern go-to-market strategies for B2B SaaS increasingly use AI to identify intent signals from anonymous research and product usage, allowing sales teams to prioritize high-intent accounts before they make direct contact.
