Pomelo Launches With $20 Million Seed Funding

<p><strong><span class&equals;"legendSpanClass"><span class&equals;"xn-location">SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; <u>Pomelo<&sol;u> has raised a Series Seed of &dollar;20 million in venture capital and <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;50 million<&sol;span> in warehouse facility for a total of <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;70 million<&sol;span> in seed financing&comma; and is the first company to combine credit and international money transfer&period; Pomelo also announced its official launch and availability to serve its first corridor&comma; <span class&equals;"xn-location">the Philippines<&sol;span>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"xn-person">Keith Rabois<&sol;span> at Founders Fund as well as <span class&equals;"xn-person">Kevin Hartz<&sol;span>&comma; Co-Founder of Xoom and General Partner&comma; at A&ast; Capital led the round with Afore Capital&comma; Xfund&comma; <span class&equals;"xn-person">Josh Buckley<&sol;span>&comma; the Chainsmokers&comma; and the Weeknd also investing in the round&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Pomelo is on a mission to change how international money transfer fundamentally works&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">Eric Velasquez Frenkiel<&sol;span>&comma; Pomelo founder and CEO&period; &&num;8220&semi;Our goal is to help our customers establish their financial future here in <span class&equals;"xn-location">the United States<&sol;span> by building positive credit history with their existing remittance obligations&comma; and to financially include their loved ones in emerging economies with access to modern financial instruments&period; For many of our customers&comma; Pomelo is their first credit card here in the US and the very first card for their loved ones overseas&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Frenkiel brings entrepreneurship and engineering experience from his previous work at other startups&period; Prior to founding Pomelo&comma; he co-founded Singlestore&comma; now valued at over <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;1 billion<&sol;span>&comma; which he led as CEO from 2011 to 2017&period; A graduate of <span class&equals;"xn-org">Stanford University&&num;8217&semi;s<&sol;span> School of Engineering and early engineer at Meta&comma; Frenkiel was previously named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list of technology innovators for Singlestore&period; Frenkiel founded Pomelo after many years of experiencing the challenges of money transfer firsthand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The company also announced its official launch and availability of the product to serve the US-Philippines corridor&period; After several months in private beta&comma; customers love the fact that the product is both free and personally beneficial&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s been a game changer for me&period; Pomelo is so much easier than sending money&comma; and the instant feedback on my family&&num;8217&semi;s spending gives me peace of mind&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">John Simbajon<&sol;span>&comma; a physical therapist who sends money to three family members in Bohol&comma; Cebu&comma; and Cagayan de Oro in <span class&equals;"xn-location">the Philippines<&sol;span> with Pomelo&period; &&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;ve saved money with the real-time exchange rates and no transfer fees&period; Pomelo makes me the &&num;8216&semi;bank&&num;8217&semi; for my family&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;When it comes down to it&comma; banking is about trust&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">Eric Sprink<&sol;span>&comma; Coastal Community Bank president and CEO&period; &&num;8220&semi;Pomelo is weaving together expertise in financial technology with a true focus on the people at the heart of its business&period; Pomelo gives U&period;S&period; immigrants and their families an opportunity to build a financial future&comma; which is why we were eager to be involved&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;