Dodo Payments, a Merchant-of-Record platform has raised $1.1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Antler and 9Unicorns with participation from Venture Catalysts.
The round also saw participation from notable angel investors including Nitin Gupta (Uni Cards and PayU,) Maninder Gulati (former Oyo CSO/Lightspeed), Nishant Verman (former Flipkart CorpDev head), Raymond Russell (former Chief of Staff at Boom Supersonic), Preethi Kasireddy (former Partner, a16z) and others.
The funds raised will be strategically used for product development, expanding local processing in 30+ new markets, and enhancing compliance and security measures.
Rishabh Goel, Co-founder and CEO of Dodo Payments, said, “We are immensely grateful to all our investors for the trust they have placed in us. With the backing and expertise of investors like Venture Catalysts, we are well-positioned to accelerate our mission of powering seamless global transactions for digital businesses of all sizes. This investment will enable us to expand our reach and continue innovating in the cross-border payment space, thereby helping businesses from emerging markets to compete on a global scale.”
Ayush Agarwal, Co-founder and CPTO of Dodo Payments, said, “The complexities of international payments are constantly evolving. With this funding, we are poised to advance our platform’s architecture, Innovative business solutions incorporating modules that address the nuanced challenges of cross-border transactions. Our focus remains on delivering a secure, efficient, and user-friendly experience for our merchants, empowering them to expand their reach without the typical constraints associated with global payments.”
Rajesh Mane, Partner, 100unicorns said, “At 100Unicorns, we recognize Dodo Payments’ unique positioning as the first Merchant of Record platform bridging emerging markets with global commerce. Their AI-driven approach to solving cross-border payment complexities, from dynamic currency conversion to regulatory navigation, perfectly complements our vision of backing category-defining fintech infrastructure. We are particularly impressed by their superb transaction success rate and rapid merchant adoption, which shows a strong product-market fit in underserved regions.”
Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder and President of Venture Catalysts, said, “At Venture Catalysts, we are committed to identifying and supporting innovative businesses that have the potential to transform industries. Our investment in Dodo Payments is closely aligned with this vision : the company’s groundbreaking approach to cross-border payments. Their solution not only addresses a critical need in the market, but also has the potential to significantly impact how businesses in emerging markets engage in global commerce. We are excited to be part of their journey and look forward to supporting their growth and expansion.”
Founded in 2023 by Rishabh Goel and Ayush Agarwal, Dodo Payments i a Merchant-of-Record platform for India and emerging markets. Dodo Payments enables businesses to accept payments from over 150 countries with success rates of over 90%.
The platform currently supports 25+ local payment methods, including Apple Pay, Klarna, Affirm, CashApp, UPI and all major card networks.
Dodo Payments plans to support 100+ currencies and 300+ local payment methods across key global markets in the coming year. The company has already made significant strides, working with 1000+ merchants from more than 30 countries, and aims to onboard over 10,000 merchants globally by the end of 2025.
