Los Angeles-based FinTech Park Place Payments raised $1.5m in a seed funding round led by Curate Capital to create more income opportunities for women.
Other investors in the seed funding round included Katherine August-deWild, former president and current vice-chair at First Republic Bank, Anne Clarke Wolff, former global head of investment banking at Bank of America, Jackie Shoback, co-Founder at 1414 Ventures and former GM, Staples Online, Lisa Stone, managing director at WestRiver Group and co-founder of BlogHer, Jason Levien, CEO & managing general owner at DC United, and XFactor Ventures.
The firm aims to use proceeds from the funding round to accelerate its growth and expand its team and product offerings.
The funding round comes at a time when funding for women-led companies suffered a 27% drop, to just 2.3% of all venture financing in 2020.
Led by founder and CEO Samantha Ettus in 2018, the firm offers payment processing solutions for small businesses with the aim to simultaneously create jobs and income opportunities for women. The company is both female-founded and female-led.
With nearly 3 million women exiting the workforce since the pandemic began, Park Place Payments provides a solution for them to return to work or leave their full-time positions for more flexibility while seizing control of their financial future.
Park Place Payments grew its sales force by 371% over the past year and the company seeks to boost its headcount to 1,200 by the end of 2021. With a 92% increase in merchant clients and a 134% increase in monthly processing volume since March 2020, Park Place seeks to continue delivering innovative solutions for virtual and contactless payments, it said.
Commenting on the firm’s growth, Curate Capital general partner Carrie Colbert said, “At Curate Capital, we are passionate about investing in businesses by women for women. First and foremost, we invest in winning women – and that’s exactly who Ettus is. We invest in businesses that cater to the unique needs of women and we wholeheartedly believe in the nationwide sales force that Park Place Payments is building.”
Building on onboarding Curate Capital as an investor, Ettus said, “This group will be pivotal in supporting our mission to help more businesses while delivering meaningful opportunities and financial stability for more women at a time when it’s most needed.”
Copyright © 2021 FinTech Global
