British fintech firm Checkout.com's valuation hits $40 billion after latest funding

• Change in consumer behavior in using digital payments is ramping up bets on fintech

• High demand in the U.S. market is another reason for the push

British fintech giant Checkout.com said its valuation more than doubled to $40 billion in a year, following a $1 billion investment amid a major push to the U.S. market.

The company said it would use the latest capital infusion to launch a new solution to ease payments within online marketplaces and further strengthen its involvement in the Web3 space, alongside U.S. market growth to meet high demand.

ALSO READ: AmEx launches its first debit card, competing for small-business customers

The London-based electronic payment solution provider said several new investors, including Altimeter, Dragoneer, Franklin Templeton, Singapore’s GIC, the Qatar Investment Authority, Tiger Global, the Oxford Endowment Fund, and a “large West Coast mutual fund management firm” participated in the Series D funding round.

Some of the company’s existing investors, like Blossom Capital, Coatue Management, DST Global, Endeavor Catalyst, and Ribbit Capital, also invested.

The pandemic-led change in consumer behavior in using online platforms to order and the rise in digital payments have drawn investors’ interest in fintech, ramping up bets on the sector.

The background

The fundraise comes exactly a year after Checkout.com raised $450 million from Series C funding, valuing the firm $15 billion.

ALSO READ: US consumer watchdog asks BNPL companies for data on services, shares tumble

Founded in 2012, the British company now processes payments for high-profile names such as Netflix, Singapore-based food delivery company Grab, crypto exchange platform Coinbase, offers fraud monitoring services, and provides payout solutions to other crypto platforms.

“By combining an elegant technology stack with industry expertise and an ‘extra-mile’ approach to service over the past decade, we’ve built deep partnerships with some of the world’s most innovative companies,” founder and CEO Guillaume Pousaz said.

ALSO READ: Stripe co-founder John Collison says the $95B fintech giant is not planning to go public

“Our Series D is validation of that work—but given we’re still in ‘chapter zero’ of our journey, it will also fuel our efforts to unlock the enormous untapped opportunity ahead,” he said.

Checkout.com, which is already testing a service to settle transactions for merchants with digital currencies, said it would use the fund to explore more opportunities in the Web3 - a decentralized version of the internet.

Picture Credit: PYMNTS