Payhawk Says a $112-Million Round Will Propel It Into New Markets, Including the U.S.

An ambitious payments startup clinched a big funding round on Tuesday and said its sights are now set on the U.S. market as well as other countries. London-based Payhawk Ltd. secured $112 million in a Series B round led by San Francisco-based Greenoaks, valuing the 3-year-old company at $570 million. The funding is said to be the second-largest Series B all time for a business-to-business company with ties to Central and Eastern Europe.

Now Payhawk says it will expand to new markets, opening offices in the Netherlands, France, Australia, and Singapore, as well as the United States. Current clients are based in some 27 nations, the company says. It says it will also use the funding to launch a credit card early next year, along with a cross-border transfer service meant to compete with SWIFT.

The startup’s technology, which brings together payments and expense and invoice management in a single application, is appealing enough to have attracted clients such as LuxAir, Lotto24, and Viking Life, along with a number of start-up firms undergoing fast growth. “Managing company cards, especially reports, bill payments, and invoices, is currently a disconnected experience bridged by finance teams through a lot of manual work. We are building enterprise software running on global payments infrastructure that automates all spend processes,” says Hristo Borisov, chief executive and a founder of the company, in a statement.

Payhawk says it wrapping up an ambitious 2021, a year in which it launched what it calls “free” bill payments as well as support across 30 countries for Apple Pay and Google Pay. It reports its transaction volume is growing at a fast pace, increasing 45% in October over September. Absolute figures were not available.

Payhawk’s growth so far—as well as its ambitions to move into more countries—appeals to its investors. “We think that painful expense reports and bill payments should be a thing of the past, and we are excited to partner with Payhawk on the way to getting there,” says Patrick Backhouse, a partner at Greenoaks, in a statement. Greenoaks’ past investments include funding for other banking and payments firms, including Robinhood, Stripe, and Brex.

Payhawk’s latest financing comes seven months after a $20-million Series A round.