Pomelo has announced a $20 million round in venture capital and $50 million in warehouse facility for a total of $70 million in seed financing, and claims to be “the first company to combine credit and international money transfer.”
Pomelo also “announced its official launch and availability to serve its first corridor, the Philippines.”
Keith Rabois at Founders Fund as well as Kevin Hartz, Co-Founder of Xoom and General Partner, at A* Capital led the investment round “with Afore Capital, Xfund, Josh Buckley, the Chainsmokers, and the Weeknd also investing in the round.”
Pomelo is “a new credit card that allows consumers to extend credit to family overseas to solve remittance transfer.”
Eric Velasquez Frenkiel is “the founder and CEO of Pomelo, the first fintech to combine consumer credit and international money transfer.”
Eric Velasquez Frenkiel said:
“Pomelo is on a mission to change how international money transfer fundamentally works.Our goal is to help our customers establish their financial future here in the United States by building positive credit history with their existing remittance obligations, and to financially include their loved ones in emerging economies with access to modern financial instruments. For many of our customers, Pomelo is their first credit card here in the US and the very first card for their loved ones overseas.”
Frenkiel brings entrepreneurship and engineering experience “from his previous work at other startups.”
Prior to founding Pomelo, he “co-founded Singlestore, now valued at over $1 billion, which he led as CEO from 2011 to 2017.”
A graduate of Stanford University’s School of Engineering and early engineer at Meta, Frenkiel was “previously named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list of technology innovators for Singlestore.”
Frenkiel founded Pomelo “after many years of experiencing the challenges of money transfer firsthand.”
The company also “announced its official launch and availability of the product to serve the US-Philippines corridor.” After several months in private beta, customers “love the fact that the product is both free and personally beneficial.”
John Simbajon, a physical therapist who sends money to three family members in Bohol, Cebu, and Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines with Pomelo, said:
“It’s been a game changer for me. Pomelo is so much easier than sending money, and the instant feedback on my family’s spending gives me peace of mind.We’ve saved money with the real-time exchange rates and no transfer fees. Pomelo makes me the ‘bank’ for my family.”
Check here for more details.