PayPal’s venture arm invests in Israeli e-commerce platform Cymbio
Founded in 2014, Tel Aviv-based company also raised $20 million in Series B funding round four months ago
Ricky Ben-David is a Times of Israel editor and reporter
US fintech giant Paypal has invested in Israeli company Cymbio, a developer of a digital commerce platform, through its venture arm PayPal Ventures, the firms said on Thursday.
The investment amount was not disclosed, and came four months after Cymbio raised $20 million in a funding round led by Palo Alto-based firm Corner Ventures (formerly DAG Ventures), which has invested in companies like GrubHub and Nextdoor, as well as a number of Israeli companies like Healthy.io, a medical tech outfit, and Melio, a fintech startup that recently hit a valuation of $4 billion.
Cymbio’s existing investors like Israeli businessman Udi Angel and Yuval Tal, co-founder of payments platform Payoneer, also participated in the Series B round in November, as did new investors Chris North, former managing director of Amazon UK, and Jeff Weiser, former CMO at Shopify.
Cymbio was founded in 2014, developing a marketplace and dropship automation platform that it says helps brands reach local retailers and grow their sales revenue. Through the platform, brands can manage digital channels and support their sales operations, the company says, automating processes for day-to-day management activity between brands and retailers
The company says its platform allows for retail connections to over 800 marketplaces and retailers. The company works with brands such as New Balance and Steve Madden, and retailers such as Macy’s, Dillard’s, Saks, Urban Outfitters, and Walmart. Cymbio has offices in Tel Aviv and New York.
Cymbio CEO Roy Avidor said in a statement that the PayPal investment “reflects the important role that Cymbio plays in enabling brands to shift to a multi-channel commerce model.
Avidor, who co-founded the company with Mor Lavi and CTO Gilad Zirkel, said the funding “will support Cymbio in the next stage of our journey.” Cymbio hopes to expand its capabilities to better serve clients and roll out a financial services offering for brands later this year.
Phil Valka, senior director at PayPal Ventures, said the Israeli company shares PayPal’s “ambition to support businesses of all sizes in expanding their digital commerce operations.”
“Multi-channel selling is one of the most effective ways for brands and merchants to reach more consumers and increase sales. We’re excited to invest in an innovative solution that solves customers’ pain points around data integrations, thereby unlocking further growth opportunities,” Valka said.
PayPal was first founded in 1998 as a digital payment system that allows for online money transfers. It grew as an eBay spinoff to become one of the largest fintech companies in the world, with about 400 million users in 2021 and revenue of over $25 billion that year, according to financial records.
The company operates in a majority of world countries that allow online financial transactions.