PhotonPay, a global fintech company founded in Hong Kong in 2015, has closed a $40 million Series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from new investor SBI Group and follow-on investments from existing investors IDG Capital, GL Ventures, and Lightspeed Faction. Blacksheep Technology acted as exclusive financial advisor on the transaction. The announcement was made via Media OutReach Newswire.
The new capital will support the expansion of 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 matters because as stablecoins move beyond crypto-native use cases into corporate treasury, settlement, and commercial spending, businesses need infrastructure that connects on-chain liquidity with the banking, clearing, and card networks they rely on for everyday operations.
PhotonPay's Financial OS brings together multi-asset wallets, global money movement, foreign exchange, local clearing, and global card issuing through an integrated API-first architecture. Stablecoins sit at the core, with the multi-asset wallet connecting stablecoin liquidity with fiat balances, integrating asset conversion, foreign exchange, and local clearing into a single connected workflow. This enables businesses to move funds across supported on-chain and traditional financial networks, turning digital asset liquidity into purchasing power for local payments and everyday corporate spending.
The company's global financial network allows businesses to open local collection accounts in 17 key markets and receive funds in more than 60 currencies. On the payout side, the network supports over 100 payment routes across local clearing systems, bank transfers, and digital wallets, including payouts to 74 major local e-wallets. Approximately 97% of payout transactions reach recipients within hours or on 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.
As of August 2026, PhotonPay's annualized transaction volume reached US$65 billion. The company has secured 34 payment and financial licenses and regulatory authorizations across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and serves over 200,000 business customers across more than 200 countries and territories. It also serves more than 100 enterprise and platform partners through embedded finance, enabling technology platforms to natively integrate global accounts, payments, and card issuing into their own products.
"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. Our Financial OS brings these capabilities together, making the underlying infrastructure far less visible to businesses, even as it becomes more essential than ever."
PhotonPay is also developing standardized financial interfaces for developers and AI agents, with planned support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and a policy-based execution framework to enforce programmable authorization rules, spending limits, and transaction-level controls. In May 2026, PhotonPay and Mastercard completed a live agentic payment demonstration using a tokenized PhotonPay card, validating AI-initiated transactions across existing global card networks. This positions the company at the intersection of stablecoin adoption and agentic commerce, where AI agents can coordinate financial tasks within defined authorization boundaries.
The funding round's strategic importance is underscored by its investors. "Businesses want one provider that can handle their payments across currencies and markets, whether they're using bank transfers, stablecoins or cards," said Yuanhan Li, Partner at Blockchain Capital. "Lewison and his team have spent a decade building the banking relationships, licenses and local payment infrastructure to deliver that." Eiichiro So, CEO & Managing Director of SBI Ven Capital, added that PhotonPay's established global payment network and vision align with SBI Group's strategy to advance digital financial infrastructure.
For businesses operating globally, PhotonPay's expansion could mean more seamless cross-border payments and settlement, reducing the friction of managing multiple currencies and payment rails. For the fintech industry, the funding signals continued investor confidence in stablecoin infrastructure as a bridge between digital assets and traditional finance. For the broader economy, it reflects the growing convergence of stablecoins and fiat currencies in corporate operations. More information is available at www.photonpay.com.
