WePay Raises $15 Million in Series C Funding to Grow its Payments API for Platform Businesses

Palo Alto, CA (PRWEB) January 16, 2014

WePay, the payments company behind platform businesses, announced today $ 15 million in Series C financing. The company will use the funds to accelerate its growth through further investments in its payments API product and international expansion. Revenue from WePay’s payments API has grown over 600% in the last year, and the company has over 300 platform partners. In addition, today the company is announcing its plans to discontinue its direct-to-consumer offering in order to focus exclusively on its payments API built specifically for platform businesses such as online marketplaces, crowdfunding sites and small business software.

This round of financing was led by financial services and payments pioneer Phil Purcell of Continental Investors, co-founder of the Discover Card and former CEO of Morgan Stanley. Continental Investors has investments in several notable financial services companies, including the leading mobile payment and loyalty company, LevelUp. Paul Purcell will represent Continental on the WePay board.

A number of top technology and payments experts also participated, including:

    Max Levchin, founder & former CTO of PayPal
    Maynard Webb (Chairman of Yahoo!, board member of Salesforce, former COO of eBay, and former CEO of LiveOps), through the Webb Investment Network (WIN), his early-stage venture capital firm
    Angel investor Raymond Tonsing

All existing institutional investors, including Highland Capital Partners, August Capital and Ignition Partners, participated in this round. This round brings WePay’s total financing to $ 35 million.

“Platform businesses like online marketplaces, crowdfunding sites and small business software are the most exciting segment of ecommerce today,” said Paul Purcell of Continental. “WePay’s focus here, coupled with their ability to give these platforms a payment solution that offers both flexibility and protection from fraud and compliance risk, is a recipe for success.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Continental to the WePay family. The team’s depth of operating and investment experience with later stage companies, payments, financial services and the public markets will be invaluable to WePay as we grow,” said Bill Clerico, CEO of WePay.

Unlike general-purpose payment APIs and processors, WePay is uniquely focused on serving platform businesses such as online marketplaces, crowdfunding sites and small business software. WePay gives these platforms the flexibility they need to design new commerce experiences while still protecting them from the burdens of fraud and compliance. WePay’s proprietary VedaTM social risk engine underpins its API and is honed to understand the platform’s users.

About WePay

The WePay® payment API is built specifically for platform businesses like marketplaces, crowdfunding sites and small business software. These platforms are empowering millions of users worldwide to unlock all kinds of creative commerce. Through its proprietary VedaTM social risk engine, WePay gives platforms a flexible payment API that provides a great user experience while still taking on all their fraud risk and compliance burdens.

WePay has processed transactions for more than 250,000 customers and over 300 partners. Platform businesses such as GoFundMe, HoneyFund, CustomMade, Care.com and LessAccounting have chosen WePay’s API to handle their payments. The company’s customer service team won the 2013 Gold Stevie Award for its outstanding work with customers. For more information visit http://www.wepay.com.

About Continental Investors

Continental Investors is a private equity firm founded in 2006 by Phil Purcell. Continental invests in private companies primarily in the financial service industry and in consumer businesses where the Internet is important. Continental Investors are a strategic source of capital and look for opportunities where their industry experience and relationships can benefit management and other private investors. Prior to Continental, Phil was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dean Witter, Discover & Co. from 1986 until they acquired Morgan Stanley Group Inc. in 1997. He then served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley until his retirement in 2005. Paul Purcell has nearly15 years of experience deploying capital in public and private markets for financial services and payments companies.

WePay is a registered trademark, and Veda is a trademark, of WePay, Inc.