Payoneer


Payoneer is a financial services company that provides online money transfer, digital payment services and provides customers with working capital.

Services

Account holders can send and receive funds into their bank account, Payoneer e-wallet, or onto a re-loadable prepaid MasterCard debit card that can be used online or at points of sale. The company specializes in facilitating cross-border B2B payments. It provides cross-border transactions in 200 countries and territories and more than 150 local currencies, with its cross border wire transfers, online payments, and refillable debit card services.
Companies like Airbnb, Amazon, Google and Upwork use Payoneer to send mass payouts around the world. It is also used by eCommerce marketplaces such as Rakuten, Walmart and Wish.com, freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr and Envato, and works with ad networks to connect these firms with publishers based outside of their headquartered country.
In the content creation space, Payoneer works with Getty Images, iStock, Pond5, and others as well as in the freelance marketplace.
Payoneer has a customer care team with 320 employees who support 4 million customers in 70 languages, operating in 150 different currencies.
In October 2019, the company launched a service aimed for small and medium sized businesses to send payments anywhere in the world quickly and cheaply.

Business

The company is headquartered in New York City. As of 2019, the company employed approximately 1,200 people, and serves over 4 million customers in 14 offices around the world. In 2019 the company was valued at over $1 billion.
In order to lawfully remit money within the European Single Market, Payoneer is registered with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.

Research

Payoneer publishes reports on the global economy.
Payoneer was founded in 2005 with $2 million in seed funding from founder and then-CEO Yuval Tal and other private investors. 83North led an additional $4 million in funding in 2007, with additional investors including Carmel Ventures, Crossbar Capital, Ping An, Wellington Management, Susquehanna Growth Equity and Nyca Partners. Since 2005 Payoneer has raised over $265 million from investors.
In March 2016, the firm acquired internet escrow company Armor Payments. aiming to address the market for B2B transactions between US$500 and $1,000,000 where credit cards and Letters of Credit are not suitable. It also began working with the Latin American eCommerce site Linio.
In August 2016, the firm added an automated tax form service to its mass payout offering.
In October 2016, the company raised $180 million from Technology Crossover Ventures, bringing the total funding to $234 million.
In 2017, China Broadband Capital invested in Payoneer.
In 2017 and 2018, Payoneer was named as CNBC's 40th and 13th most disruptive companies, respectively.
In 2018, former chief economist of Israel, Yoel Naveh, joined the company to lead Payoneer's working capital division.
Payoneer expanded its Capital Advance service in mid-2019, specifically for e-commerce sellers in the United States, which allows merchants selling on internet platforms such as Amazon and Walmart immediate access to working capital.
In 2019, Payoneer partnered with freelancing platform Toptal to facilitate cross-border payments, allowing more efficient movement of wages between employer and its remote workers. Payoneer also got an authorisation as an Electronic Money Institution by Central Bank of Ireland for customers in EEU.
In 2019, Payoneer hired FT Partners to help facilitate expansion of the company and an additional round of private funding.
In December 2019, Payoneer acquired optile, a German payment orchestration platform. The acquisition allows Payoneer, for the first time, to offer merchant services and consumer payment acceptance in addition to the B2B services they have been providing since inception. Daniel Smeds founded and runs optile, and its staff of 75, which will continue to operate as an independent group based out of their current HQ in Munich while also working for Payoneer.
In February 2020, the company was included in the Forbes Fintech 50: The Most Innovative Fintech Companies in 2020.

Global reach

Southeast Asia

Since 2015, Payoneer’s sales volume in Southeast Asia, a region with one of the strongest gig economies in the world, has grown substantially. In Vietnam, it grew by 907%; 789% in Thailand; 736% in Indonesia and by 407% in Malaysia.

Philippines

In 2009, Payoneer became available for use in the Philippines and later opened offices in Manila in 2016. Since opening in Manila the firm has helped the country’s rural poor improve their standard of living. Since 2015, sales volume has grown for Payoneer by 907% in the Philippines.

Japan

The company opened offices in Japan in 2016. It partnered with the Japanese based e-commerce giant Rakuten in a deal aimed at opening up their US site, Rakuten.com, to vendors outside the USA.

Korea

They also partnered with the Korean online B2B marketplace EC21. In 2017, the company released an Integrated Payments API for SaaS providers to link cross-border B2B payments across cloud platforms. In 2018 the company opened and office in Seoul.

Britain

In June 2017, the company opened an office in London.

Pakistan

With Pakistan being the 4th largest freelance service provider in the world, Payoneer operates in Pakistan with MCB, Standard Chartered, and Faysal Bank, among other banks. Once the account is verified and registered with Payoneer, the users can receive their payments by selecting Payoneer payment option on the international websites that support Payoneer along with other money transfer platforms.

China

Payoneer has a presence in China, and in 2017, it was the exclusive partner and payment service provider of Chinese e-sellers for the Russian e-commerce platform Joom.

Ukraine

The company partners with several banks in Ukraine: PrivatBank; Alfa-Bank; and monobank.

India

The firm closed its services in the Indian market in 2011 by the Reserve Bank of India due to certain directives enforced by the RBI. Payoneer re-entered the Indian market in 2016, after partnering with IndusInd Bank and receiving central bank approval. The company customized its offerings for the Indian market, with special reporting systems and fund-transfer limits that comply with local rules. Payoneer was the first digital payment platform in India to provide customers with a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate digitally, thereby simplifying the required business processes.

Dubai investigation

On January 19, 2010, Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh, then chief of logistics and weapons procurement for the military wing of Hamas, was found dead in his hotel room Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Investigation by Dubai Police showed that some of the murder suspects used MasterCards branded by US-based Meta Bank, but issued by Payoneer to pay for their plane tickets to Dubai. Some speculated that the assassination was orchestrated by the Mossad. Payoneer offered its full cooperation to the Dubai police during their investigation of the murder.

French Airbnb

Payoneer partnered with popular rental website Airbnb in November 2013. The arrangement allowed hosts to conveniently withdraw their earnings using their prepaid Payoneer debit cards. In December 2017, French authorities investigated the payment system, which allowed hosts to receive their payments directly without having to first be deposited in their bank accounts, which could lead to the possibility of tax avoidance. Airbnb agreed to withdraw the payment system in France.
Payoneer responded, stating that it was "a regulated payment company, which operates in total conformity with the laws and regulations of the European Union," and that "the idea that Payoneer products would help avoid paying taxes or allow money laundering is categorically wrong."