PayPal Closes $90 Million in Equity Financing
Online Payments Leader Cements Strategic Partnerships With Leading Financial Institutions in Europe and Asia
Palo Alto, CA - March 6, 2001 - Demonstrating the power of its business model and the international value of its brand-name service, online payments provider PayPal today announced the completion of a $90 million Series D investment round, a strategic placement that includes the participation of key European and Asian partners that will work with the company to expand its service internationally. The list of financial institutions partnering with PayPal, the world's largest Internet-based payments service, includes leading Spanish bank Bankinter and Japanese Internet bank eBANK, among others.
PayPal allows people and businesses to send and receive money instantly and securely via the Internet, currently serving more than 6.5 million customers. With the closing of Series D, PayPal brings in additional strategic partners that will help PayPal bolster its international service -- now available to users in 26 countries.
"As business and consumer adoption of PayPal has continued to grow, so has partnership and investment interest," said Peter Thiel, CEO of PayPal. "In light of current economic and private capital market conditions, this is a testament to the value of the PayPal service and to the efforts of the PayPal team. We look forward to working with all our strategic partners to continue to build upon this success."
"As one of the most technologically advanced banks in Europe and the pioneer of Internet stock trading in Spain, we know that our customers appreciate the convenience of conducting transactions online,'' said Bankinter spokesman Jaime Echegoyen. ``By working with PayPal, we continue to deliver valuable online offerings to customers well beyond traditional financial services."
"PayPal is revolutionizing payments by making them faster, more convenient, more secure and less expensive to process,'' said Take Wakayama, COO of eBANK, a joint venture formed by several leading Japanese companies, including Sumitomo Corp., Itochu Corp., and Hitachi Ltd. ``As an Internet bank focused on improving payments for businesses and consumers, eBANK is pleased to partner with PayPal to help create a new, global payment system on the Internet."
Other participants in PayPal's Series D round, which closed February 16, include ING Group, Providian Financial, and leading French retail bank Credit Agricole, in addition to new and pre-existing investors. PayPal has raised approximately $225 million in total equity financing, including a $100 million Series C round announced on April 5, 2000.
About PayPal
PayPal is the instant and secure online payment service that allows people and businesses to send and receive money by e-mail from bank accounts or credit cards. With 6.5 million members and growing, PayPal is the world's first and largest Internet-based payment service, and the #1 financial site on the Internet, according to PC Data Online. PayPal is the preferred payment service for online auctions, online community and group Web sites, and is seeing tremendous growth in e-commerce transactions for small businesses. PayPal members send over $7 million in more than 150,000 payments each day. Free to consumers, PayPal can be used from PCs or web-enabled mobile phones. Business users pay transaction fees to receive payments through PayPal.
PayPal is a privately held company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. PayPal was recently named one of the 50 Most Important Private Companies in the World by Red Herring and one of the Top 25 New Companies by Fortune Small Business. The PayPal Website has been cited as among the ``Best of the Web'' by Forbes, Time, PC Magazine and U.S. News & World Report. For more information, please visit http://www.paypal.com.
SOURCE: PayPal, Inc.
Contact:
PayPal 650-251-1207 vsollitto@paypal.com |