PPRO Boosts Funding Round To $270 Million With JPMorgan, Eldridge

London-based payments infrastructure provider PPRO upped its latest funding round to $270 million with cash infusions from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Eldridge.

PPRO Chief Executive Officer Simon Black said in a Thursday (March 25) press release that the capital from J.P. Morgan and Eldridge added to the $180 million raised from Eurazeo Growth, Sprints Capital, and Wellington Management in January.

Black said the funds will be used to solidify and grow “our local and alternative payment capabilities.”

PPRO’s infrastructure, technology and other services are used by payment firms worldwide to facilitate payments and help providers offer the best conversion rates to international customers. The escalation of online shopping, in part fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe, has helped drive PPRO’s growth. The company doubled the value of transactions and scaled its international workforce by 60 percent last year.

The company has continued its worldwide growth and teamed up with complementary companies offering local payments in high-growth markets from Indonesia to Italy.

“Alternative payments adoption is increasing rapidly across the globe,” said J.P. Morgan Chase Managing Director, Global Head Integrated Payments Group Sanjay Saraf. “We are proud to become a strategic investor in PPRO as they work on their next phase of growth.”

Last year, PPRO processed in excess of $11 billion for its business customers, including Mollie, PayPal, Worldpay, and more. The company has collaborated with numerous local payment firms and employs over 300 people around the globe.

Prior to this addition of new capital, PPRO notched funding that pushed its valuation to unicorn status — $1 billion. The January funding followed a July 2020 round that raised $50 million from Sprints Capital, Citi Ventures and HPE Growth.

In a May 2020 Trend Talk with PYMNTS, Kelly Switt, director of FSI strategy, ecosystem and strategic partnerships for Red Hat, said infrastructure will soon get its day in the spotlight as technical solutions intersect with business road maps.