Global payments and monetization platform Waffo has raised over $15 million in a Series A round, co-led by Gaorong Ventures

Today, Waffo, a global payments and monetization platform, announced it has raised over $15 million in a Series A round co-led by Gaorong Ventures and Illuminate Financial, a London-based fintech investment firm, with participation from HSBC and BAI Capital. Gaorong Ventures had previously led Waffo's angel round in 2023 and increased its stake in this round.

New investor Illuminate Financial specializes in fintech and financial infrastructure, backed by a roster of strategic investors from leading global financial institutions including BNY Mellon, Euroclear, JPMorgan Chase, S&P Global, Jefferies Financial Group, Deutsche Börse Group, Barclays, Citi, Singapore Exchange (SGX), and HSBC. The funding will accelerate Waffo's global payments infrastructure build-out, helping companies in gaming, AI, SaaS, digital content, and other sectors solve payment challenges and achieve scalable monetization.

Unified API Connecting 430+ Global Payment Methods

Global Monetization Solutions for Digital Businesses

Waffo consolidates 430+ local payment methods across 50+ countries and regions through a single API, offering digital businesses one-stop solutions for global collections, subscription management, compliance, risk control, and settlement. The platform supports high-concurrency processing at 2,000 TPS with 99.99% service availability, providing stable and reliable payment infrastructure for companies expanding overseas.

Waffo delivers modular payment solutions including: a global payment gateway supporting rapid integration of local payment methods; an intelligent routing system that automatically recommends optimal payment paths based on user location; a subscription management platform supporting subscription, one-time, and invoice payments to meet diverse business scenarios; unified settlement services enabling centralized financial management across multiple regions and currencies; and a comprehensive compliance and risk control system covering KYC, anti-money laundering, PCI DSS, and other international standards.

Reshaping the Cross-Border Payment Experience

From Tool to Infrastructure

As the digital economy expands globally, companies face multiple challenges in global payments: highly fragmented local payment methods, complex and evolving regulatory environments, and disjointed checkout experiences across markets. For digital products in gaming, AI, SaaS, and beyond, building scalable monetization capabilities and compliant payment infrastructure has become essential for international expansion.

Waffo addresses these pain points with modern, scalable payment infrastructure. The platform integrates not only traditional card payments but also deeply covers localized payment methods including regional e-wallets, bank transfers, and QR code payments, helping clients deliver superior payment experiences and significantly improve success rates in major global markets spanning North America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Anchor Customers Building a Complete Payment Ecosystem

In online sectors including gaming, AI, SaaS, and digital content, Waffo already provides global payment and monetization infrastructure to multiple leading enterprises. Its client base spans top gaming companies and AI innovators, including well-known large language model applications, design and creator productivity tools, AI video generation platforms, intelligent conversational assistants, and AI image processing platforms.

Leveraging Waffo's localized payment and settlement capabilities, these companies have significantly improved user conversion and retention in major global markets including North America, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, accelerating scalable commercialization and sustainable monetization.

In the financial payments sector, Waffo's infrastructure has been adopted by multiple leading financial institutions and payment platforms as underlying support for their global acquiring, local payment access, and settlement capabilities. Notably, Waffo provides global payment capabilities and technical services to institutions including LianLian Global and HSBC, enabling them to more efficiently serve global merchants and enterprise clients while improving cross-market payment experiences and operational efficiency.

Funding to Power Solution Innovation and

Global Payment Network Expansion

The company indicated this round will focus on three priorities: at the solutions level, building more specialized payment solutions for industry verticals including gaming, AI, and SaaS to improve sector fit and user experience; at the acquiring capabilities level, establishing broader global acquiring networks and expanding coverage of local payment methods in emerging markets; and at the distribution capabilities level, developing wider global payment channel partnerships to deliver more precise payment services tailored to different scenarios.

Shuo Hu, Partner at Gaorong Ventures, commented: "In this wave of digital economy globalization driven by AI applications, business models and growth paths are being restructured. Payment infrastructure that can support flexible pricing strategies and efficient cash flow turnover for AI companies is critical. Through technology-driven localized payment solutions, Waffo helps AI, gaming, entertainment, and other companies internationalize more efficiently and accelerates global monetization for Chinese entrepreneurs. We believe Waffo will continue to support faster, more robust commercial growth for AI and digital-native enterprises worldwide through more efficient integration experiences and solid underlying capabilities."

About Waffo

Waffo is a unified global payments and monetization platform connecting 430+ local payment methods across 50+ countries and regions, enabling digital businesses to manage global collections, subscriptions, compliance, risk control, and settlement in one place, streamlining global operations and driving revenue growth. The company holds PCI DSS v4.0 Level 1 certification, covering key processes including internet payment acquiring, settlement, and refunds, with encrypted storage and secure transmission of sensitive authentication and cardholder data. It supports high-concurrency processing at 2,000 TPS with 99.99% service availability.