San Francisco-based Pomelo receives $20 million in venture capital and a $50 million credit facility in a round led by Founders Fund and A* Capital, with participation from Afore Capital, The Chainsmokers, and The Weeknd, among others. Pomelo’s platform combines consumer loans and money transfers with no transfer fees. In partnership with Mastercard, the fintech has developed a credit card that allows U.S. customers to assign credit to their friends and family members.
Pomelo says that six months before the beta test, more than 120,000 people had signed up for the waiting list.
Following the funding, the startup’s CEO and co-founder, Eric Velasquez Frenkiel, says the company has enabled money transfers with the Philippines and will “unlock more of the waitlist” in the coming months as it prepares to launch in new countries.
“Our team has worked hard over the past 24 months to build the complex infrastructure necessary to create a new product and lead a new product category,” says Velasquez Frenkiel.
“We look forward to planting more Pomelo trees in the more than 210 countries where Mastercard is accepted in the coming years,” he adds.
