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PhotonPay raises $40 mn in Series C to expand stablecoin Financial OS

PhotonPay raises $40 mn in Series C to expand stablecoin Financial OS
  • PhotonPay raised $40 mn in Series C funding led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from SBI Group, IDG Capital, GL Ventures and Lightspeed Faction.
  • The company reported $65 bn in annualized transaction volume as of August 2026, serving more than 200,000 businesses across over 200 countries and territories.
  • New investment will support stablecoin wallets, global payment infrastructure, card issuing and AI agent-enabled financial transactions.

PhotonPay has secured $40 mn in Series C financing led by Blockchain Capital, with new investor SBI Group joining the round alongside existing backers IDG Capital, GL Ventures and Lightspeed Faction. Blacksheep Technology served as the exclusive financial advisor to PhotonPay on the transaction.

The funding will support the expansion of PhotonPay’s stablecoin-focused Financial Operating System (Financial OS). Investment priorities include developing multi-asset wallet capabilities, extending global card issuing, improving local clearing infrastructure in key markets and building a financial execution layer designed to support AI agents.

As of August 2026, PhotonPay reported annualized transaction volume of $65 bn. The company holds 34 payment and financial licenses and regulatory authorizations across the Americas, Europe and Asia, serving more than 200,000 business customers in over 200 countries and territories.

PhotonPay’s strategy centres on connecting stablecoins with conventional financial infrastructure as their use expands beyond cryptocurrency markets into corporate treasury management, settlement and commercial payments.

Rather than treating stablecoins and fiat currencies as competing payment systems, the company is developing infrastructure that combines on-chain liquidity with traditional banking services, local clearing networks and card payments.

Moving money across borders in seconds means little if it still takes days to put that capital to work. Stablecoins are accelerating global money movement, while local clearing and global card issuing connect that liquidity to local settlement and everyday business spending.

Lewison Chen, founder and CEO of PhotonPay

“Our Financial OS brings these capabilities together, making the underlying infrastructure far less visible to businesses, even as it becomes more essential than ever.”

Chen also identified artificial intelligence as a factor in the next stage of financial infrastructure development, particularly as business software becomes capable of executing increasingly complex tasks autonomously.

“At the same time, business software is becoming increasingly autonomous,” Chen added. “AI is shifting financial workflows from people manually operating fragmented tools toward systems that understand business intent and coordinate execution across assets, accounts and financial rails. That creates the foundation for agentic commerce. Stablecoins change how money moves. AI changes how it gets put to work. But commerce is still what money is for.”

PhotonPay expands stablecoin payments and global financial infrastructure

PhotonPay’s Financial OS combines multi-asset wallets, international payments, foreign exchange, local clearing and global card issuing through an integrated API-first architecture.

The platform is designed to provide businesses with a connected system for managing funds, converting assets and executing transactions across different markets.

Stablecoins form a central component of the infrastructure. PhotonPay’s multi-asset wallet connects stablecoin liquidity with fiat currency balances, bringing asset conversion, foreign exchange and local clearing into a single financial workflow.

Businesses can transfer funds across supported blockchain-based and traditional payment networks, converting digital asset liquidity into funds available for local settlement, supplier payments and corporate spending.

The company supports these capabilities through its international financial network. Businesses can establish local collection accounts in 17 key markets and receive payments in more than 60 currencies.

For outbound payments, PhotonPay provides more than 100 payment routes covering local clearing systems, bank transfers and digital wallets, including transfers to 74 major local e-wallets.

Approximately 97% of payout transactions reach recipients within hours or on the same day, while 68% are completed in real time, according to the company.

Card issuing represents another component of PhotonPay’s infrastructure, allowing businesses to use funds through programmable payment instruments.

Through its APIs, companies and technology platforms can issue virtual and physical cards, establish detailed spending controls and integrate card payments directly into business applications and automated processes.

PhotonPay issued 4.4 mn cards over the past 12 months, representing a 275% year-on-year increase.

The company also offers its infrastructure through embedded finance arrangements, allowing technology platforms to incorporate international accounts, payments and card issuing into their own products.

PhotonPay currently works with more than 100 enterprise and platform partners, extending its financial services into specialised industry applications and business workflows.

PhotonPay develops AI agent payments and automated financial execution

PhotonPay is extending its Financial OS to support agentic commerce, in which artificial intelligence systems can initiate and coordinate financial activities within predefined operational and security restrictions.

The company sees a requirement for financial infrastructure that goes beyond conventional API connectivity. AI-driven systems must be able to interpret business instructions and translate them into financial transactions while operating under enforceable authorization policies.

In May 2026, PhotonPay and Mastercard completed a live demonstration of agentic payments using a tokenized PhotonPay card.

The demonstration validated AI-initiated transactions through existing global card networks, providing a practical example of how automated software agents can interact with established payment infrastructure.

PhotonPay is now developing standardized financial interfaces intended for software developers and AI agents.

The planned architecture includes support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which would allow AI systems to access account information, balances, card functions and payment capabilities through standardized interfaces.

These capabilities are intended to function as modular financial components that AI agents can use to retrieve relevant information and initiate transactions within defined authorization boundaries.

PhotonPay is also developing a policy-based execution framework to control automated financial activity.

The proposed system will enforce programmable authorization requirements, spending limits and transaction-level restrictions, allowing AI agents to coordinate financial operations across supported accounts and assets without operating outside policies established by businesses.