Fresh off $200M funding haul, C2FO acquires India’s largest payment platform in bid to expand market position

Kansas City-built C2FO will continue to expand its global prowess with the acquisition of India-based Priority Vendor, the startup announced Thursday. 

“This is an important milestone in C2FO India’s journey,” said Pradeep Gode, C2FO’s country head for India, in a release about the acquisition of Priority Vendor — India’s largest early payment platform. 

The move allows C2FO to strengthen its position in the world of working capital and better meet the needs of customers on a global scale, the company said. 

“We are also delighted to welcome Priority Vendor’s energetic and entrepreneurial leadership and team to join C2FO’s global talent pool,” Gode added. 

As the companies join forces, they’ll serve more than 200 corporate clients including Acer, Costco Wholesale, Flex, Kellogg’s, Mondelez, Pfizer and Office Depot.

The acquisition is expected to enhance returns on cash for buyers, strengthen their supply chain and help free up trapped cash in India, the company said. 

With momentum mounting, the decision to acquire Priority Vendor follows the close of C2FO’s record $200 million funding round in August. 

Such a feat was made possible by the startup’s approach to global partnerships — similar to those in India, Keri Thurston, the company’s CFO, told a crowd at Startland’s Top VC-Backed Companies celebration days after the round was announced.  

Click here to read about the C2FO executive’s advice on seeking global capital. 

Founded by Sandy Kemper in 2008, the company has long held a global vision and refused to be limited by geographic location, Kemper told Startland. 

“The fact that we operate in as many countries as we do today is testament to the global need for the solution,” he said, noting C2FO’s presence in 173 countries. 

“It’s one thing to say that you have customers in these countries. It’s another thing to talk about your share of the particular national economy,” he said in light of the round, detailing plans to use the $200 million in a way that would help C2FO build and scale within each country. 

“In the United States, we have 63 percent of all retail trade coming through our marketplace, and yet we only have 3 or 4 percent of the total economy coming through our marketplace, meaning accounts much larger than just the retailers that sell things.”

“So how do we take our existing position and expand upon it?” Kemper pondered. “We’re going to expand where we already operate, to work to capture more share of the market so that companies who need working capital can grow their businesses.”

India has quickly emerged as the fastest-growing market for the C2FO online marketplace, the company noted. 

The fintech startup has also experienced 300 percent year-over-year adoption rates from businesses in India and is confident such a trend will continue over the next five years, they said.