HONG KONG – PhotonPay, a global fintech company founded in Hong Kong in 2015, has closed a $40 million Series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital. The round also saw participation from new investor SBI Group and follow-on investments from existing investors IDG Capital, GL Ventures, and Lightspeed Faction. Blacksheep Technology served as exclusive financial advisor for the transaction. The announcement was made via Media OutReach Newswire.
The new capital will be used to expand PhotonPay's stablecoin-centric Financial Operating System (Financial OS), with investment focused on enhancing multi-asset wallet capabilities, expanding global card issuing, strengthening local clearing infrastructure in key markets, and developing an agent-ready financial execution layer. This funding round underscores growing investor confidence in the convergence of stablecoins and traditional financial infrastructure.
As of August 2026, PhotonPay's annualized transaction volume reached US$65 billion. The company holds 34 payment and financial licenses and regulatory authorizations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and serves over 200,000 business customers in more than 200 countries and territories. These metrics highlight PhotonPay's established position in the global payments ecosystem.
The company's Financial OS integrates multi-asset wallets, global money movement, foreign exchange, local clearing, and global card issuing through an API-first architecture. Stablecoins sit at the core, with PhotonPay's multi-asset wallet connecting stablecoin liquidity with fiat balances, enabling businesses to move funds across on-chain and traditional networks. This dual-rail infrastructure supports local collection accounts in 17 key markets, payouts in over 60 currencies, and more than 100 payment routes. Approximately 97% of payout transactions reach recipients within hours or the same day, with 68% arriving in real time. Over the past 12 months, PhotonPay issued 4.4 million cards, up 275% year-over-year.
"Moving money across borders in seconds means little if it still takes days to put that capital to work," said Lewison Chen, Founder and CEO of PhotonPay. "Stablecoins are accelerating global money movement, while local clearing and global card issuing connect that liquidity to local settlement and everyday business spending." Chen also emphasized the role of AI in shifting financial workflows toward autonomous systems, creating a foundation for agentic commerce.
In May 2026, PhotonPay and Mastercard completed a live agentic payment demonstration using a tokenized PhotonPay card, validating AI-initiated transactions across global card networks. The company is now developing standardized financial interfaces, including planned support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and a policy-based execution framework to govern AI-driven financial actions with programmable authorization rules and spending limits.
"Connecting financial networks is only the beginning. The real breakthrough is abstracting that complexity behind a unified, programmable financial layer, so businesses and AI agents can move from intent to execution within clearly defined boundaries," Chen added.
The company's infrastructure is backed by institutional partnerships with J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered, and DBS, alongside connections to domestic payment systems such as Brazil's Pix and Mexico's SPEI. "As stablecoins become increasingly integrated into global payment systems, bridging digital assets with traditional financial infrastructure will be essential to unlocking their real-world potential," said Eiichiro So, CEO & Managing Director of SBI Ven Capital. "PhotonPay's established global payment network and its vision for a stablecoin-centric Financial OS align closely with SBI Group's strategy."
For businesses, this funding signals a maturing infrastructure that could simplify cross-border payments and treasury management by merging stablecoin efficiency with local settlement networks. As stablecoins move beyond crypto-native use cases into corporate treasury and commercial spending, PhotonPay's expansion may accelerate the adoption of digital assets for everyday business operations. More information is available at https://www.photonpay.com.
