NEW YORK, NY, Aug 05 (MARKET WIRE) --
Payoneer, Inc., a provider of co-branded reloadable prepaid MasterCard(R)
cards, announced today that it received an $8 million Series B investment
led by Carmel Ventures. Additional investors in the round include Greylock
Partners, Crossbar Capital, Zohar Gilon, and others. Funds will be used
to accelerate the expansion of Payoneer's payment service offerings and
to enhance its technology with advanced compliance tools that bring a new
standard of confidence to international payments. Payoneer's offerings
simplify the process of making international payments by allowing
corporations to pay authorized payees worldwide using prepaid MasterCard
cards.
As part of the funding, Payoneer also announced that it has appointed Avi
Zeevi, general partner and co-founder of Carmel Ventures, to Payoneer's
board of directors.
International payments are cumbersome and costly, and as more companies do
business with authorized individuals and companies overseas, paying them
efficiently is a growing business problem. Since 2005, Payoneer has built
an international payments infrastructure that lets companies make
recurring mass payments to authorized payees on reloadable prepaid
MasterCard cards. Authorized payees gain immediate access to their money
in their local currency -- or, if they choose, in US dollars -- while
avoiding the hassles associated with lost or stolen checks, hold times
and fees, and the unavailability of online payment methods in certain
countries.
Using Payoneer's services, corporations have lowered their
cost-per-payment to authorized overseas payees by up to 75 percent, and
have enhanced service provider retention rates due to the payment method.
Payoneer has placed tens of thousands of prepaid cards into circulation
for hundreds of companies.
"The fast growing global 'internet economy' is creating a new service
providers' echo system which drives many more corporations to seek better
payment solutions," said Avi Zeevi, general partner and co-founder of
Carmel Ventures. "Investing in Payoneer plays to Carmel's strengths and
expertise in the Financial Technology space. We are impressed with
Payoneer's founding and executive team and we look forward to join them
and the existing investors in supporting Payoneer to become a leader in
this fast growing market."
"Traditional payment methods are far less desirable to Internet-savvy
companies, particularly when they must pay increasing numbers of people
outside the US," said Moshe Mor, partner at Greylock Partners. "We see
tremendous opportunity for innovation in this space, and are very pleased
with the progress that Payoneer has made to date."
"Good, honest individuals still have to jump through hoops in order to get
paid when they happen to live outside the US and provide services to US
companies," said Yuval Tal, CEO of Payoneer. "We will dedicate much of the
additional VC funding to developing technology that will provide better
electronic ID systems than required by current Know Your Customer (KYC)
regulations in the US -- and to further refine our simple to use, yet
highly compliant international payments platform."
About Carmel Ventures
With over $600 million currently under management, several successful
exits, and a growing portfolio of promising start-ups, Carmel is among
Israel's top-tier venture capital funds. Carmel's investments are focused
primarily on early stage companies in the fields of Software,
Communications, Internet, Media, Semiconductors, and Consumer Electronics.
Founded in 2000 by pioneers and leaders of the Israeli high tech industry,
Carmel provides significant capital and active, hands-on support through
the growth cycle of its portfolio companies and is recognized as a true
company building fund in Israel. Carmel, headquartered in Herzliya, Israel
enjoys a worldwide network of industry, strategic and investment
resources. Carmel is an affiliate of the Viola Partners Group, a leading
innovative private equity investment group with over $1.5B under
management focused on technology-based investment opportunities in
Israel. For more information, please visit www.carmelventures.com.
About Greylock Partners
Founded in 1965, Greylock Partners is one of the world's leading venture
capital firms. Over the past 43 years, Greylock has funded and helped
build several hundred successful companies. The Greylock approach
uniquely puts the entrepreneur first, with Greylock working as an
"invited guest" in a highly supportive yet consultative way to help
entrepreneurs build market-leading companies. Companies Greylock has
funded include Ascend Communications, CheckFree, Constant Contact,
Continental Cable, Decru, Data Domain, Digg, DoubleClick, Facebook,
Internet Security Systems, Ikanos, Legato, Linked In, Millennium
Pharmaceuticals, Openwave, Red Hat, RightNow Technologies, Success
Factors, Tellabs, Trilogy and Wily Technology. Greylock's offices are
located in Silicon Valley, the Boston area, Israel and India. For more
information, please visit www.greylock.com.
About Payoneer, Inc.
Founded in 2005, Payoneer Inc. provides corporate payout solutions that
lets companies pay authorized payees worldwide using prepaid MasterCard(R)
cards. The company focuses on Internet-centric companies of any size who
need an efficient, cost-effective means of paying contractors freelancers,
and/or employees worldwide. Payoneer has hundreds of thousands of Payoneer
cards in circulation. Based in New York, Payoneer maintains its R&D center
in Tel Aviv, and is privately held with funding from Carmel Ventures,
Greylock Partners and Crossbar Capital.For more information, visit
http://www.payoneer.com.
MasterCard is a registered trademark of MasterCard International
Incorporated. The Payoneer Prepaid MasterCard is issued by First Bank of
Delaware (Member FDIC), pursuant to a license from MasterCard
International Incorporated.
Press Contacts
Payoneer
Yuval Tal
CEO
Email Contact
Mary Kae Marinac - PR Representative
Email Contact
978-685-3136
Carmel Ventures
Hila Shitrit Nissim
Marketing and IR Associate
Email Contact
+972-9-9720421
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