Payoneer’s Global Expansion Strategy: Empowering Digital Economy SMBs in Service Exports

At Payoneer, we provide cross-border payment solutions for businesses, with a focus on reliability, ease, and convenience.

Our goal is to be a partner for entrepreneurs, founders, and decision-makers with global aspirations to expand their operations in the international markets, said Gaurav Shisodia, Vice President.

In an exclusive interview with Business Today, we sat down with Gaurav Shisodia, Vice President – India at Payoneer, a leading global fintech company that provides cross-border payment solutions for businesses globally. With a focus on empowering small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to expand their reach in the global economy, Payoneer has established itself as a trusted partner for entrepreneurs and business owners worldwide.

Gaurav shared insights into Payoneer’s core services, growth strategy, and the company’s commitment to enhance its offerings.

Can you provide an overview of Payoneer’s core services and the primary markets you serve? For background, what does Payoneer do?

At Payoneer, we provide cross-border payment solutions for businesses, with a focus on reliability, ease, and convenience. Our goal is to be a partner for entrepreneurs, founders, and decision-makers with global aspirations to expand their operations in the international markets. We offer a multi-currency financial stack that supports up to 11 of the world’s most traded currencies across 190+ countries and territories, enabling businesses to receive payments, manage funds, and grow their international presence.

Our local receiving accounts allow businesses to accept payments from global customers, vendors, and marketplaces in multiple currencies. By providing a “local” presence through our virtual receiving accounts for their global customers, regardless of geographical location, we enable small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to operate on a global scale. With 516,000 active ideal customer profile (ICP) customers and $6.4 billion in customer balances worldwide (as of 31st December 2023) our cross-border platform support SMBs to navigate the complexities of international business payments, serving regional markets that include Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, South Asia, Middle East, and Africa (SAMEA), China, Latin America (LATAM), and North America.

What differentiates Payoneer from other digital payment platforms in terms of features and customer service?

We differentiate ourselves from other digital payment platforms by focusing on three crucial elements: compliance, dedicated local support for businesses, and growth and networking opportunities. We serve customers globally and collaborate with regulatory authorities in countries where we are licensed.

Dedicated account managers serve as local support, offering assistance and resolutions to businesses on our platform. With our localized presence and on-the-ground teams operating in multiple countries, and customer service representatives speaking multiple languages, we support our diverse customer base.

We are committed to supporting the growth of businesses on our platform by providing access to global marketplaces, ecosystem partners, and industry experts. Through global flagship events, such as Payoneer Forum and Payoneer Connect, held in multiple cities like New Delhi, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad, opportunities are created for impactful knowledge-sharing and networking sessions. These events bring together businesses, partners, and experts under one roof, fostering valuable connections and empowering our customers with growth insights to expand their reach in the global economy.

How has the recent global shift toward digital payments impacted Payoneer’s business strategy and growth? What’s your growth strategy – what’s next for Payoneer?

Global SMBs are at the center of everything we do. The aim is to continue this by increasing the pace of product development, actively pursuing global M&A opportunities, expanding our product suite, and providing excellent customer service with more mission-critical services. Our growth strategy revolves around a refined regional and customer-based approach, emphasizing customer acquisition and retention to enhance the base of ideal customer profiles (ICPs). As of December 31, 2023, our active ICPs are growing by 6% year-over-year, and we’ve seen a 36% ARPU expansion globally.

India holds a strategic position in our business focus, primarily catering to outsourcing and service export businesses. This includes SMBs in the domains of tech & programming, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies, digital marketing agencies, sales, e-commerce exporters, and marketplace sellers, to name a few. According to the SMB Ambitions Report released in July 2023, India ranked 7th among 15 countries surveyed in terms of revenue growth from exports between 2021 and 2023, with a growth rate of 17%. It’s evident that Indian SMBs are optimistic about their global expansion, and this optimism is reflected in the remarkable 56% growth in our cross-border business customer base in India since 2016 (as of September 30, 2023).

Could you discuss any challenges Payoneer has faced in regulatory compliance across different countries and how you’ve addressed them?

We serve customers globally and collaborate with regulatory authorities in countries where we are licensed. Our focus is on consistently optimizing customer experiences, ensuring that the complexities do not add unnecessary complications for our customers. The goal is to simplify, not complicate, cross-border transactions for our customers.

Payoneer is regulated in key markets, including the US, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Singapore, and the UK. We partner with nearly 100 banking partners, payment service providers, and global marketplaces as well.

Who are the key partners collaborating with Payoneer?

Our partnerships fall into three categories: Partners that are part of our acquisition and growth engine – these include marketplaces like Amazon, Airbnb, eBay, Google, Walmart, Upwork, and Etsy; software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies; financial advisory firms, strategic partners, and platforms that serve a similar customer base.

Partners that are part of our financial stack of services and contribute to our value proposition – for example, our integration with Zoho Books.

Partners that are part of the infrastructure that enables our business, such as banks, digital wallets, and payment service providers.

These partnerships are crucial to our ability to provide comprehensive, reliable, and conbinien cross-border payment solutions to our customers. By collaborating with a diverse range of partners across various sectors, we can offer a seamless, integrated experience that meets the evolving needs of businesses operating in the global economy.

How does Payoneer support small businesses with value-added services to navigate and expand globally?

We enable businesses on our platform by providing access to our partner ecosystem, and participation in global flagship and networking events for knowledge-sharing sessions led by experts.

Example of our ecosystem partnerships include:

1. Payoneer x Zoho Books integration launched in April 2023 benefits small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) working globally in India, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the Philippines. This feature makes international payments smooth, supports various currencies, and improves invoicing to help boost cash flow on a global scale.
2. Payoneer x Etsy has also collaborated to support Etsy’s bespoke seller offering, Etsy Payments. The collaboration enables Etsy to streamline payments to sellers and open economic doors for entrepreneurs by providing enhanced services and seamless payouts, enabling sellers to receive funds in their preferred currency.
3. Our global annual flagship event Payoneer Forum & monthly networking platform Payoneer Connect in India, hosted in New Delhi, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad in October 2023 and January 2024, respectively, empowered over 1300+ attendees to learn and discuss strategies for seamlessly managing and expanding their international business, facilitating networking, and providing valuable business insights and strategies from Payoneer’s ecosystem partners for exponential growth.