Payoneer, EC21 Partner to Boost South Korea SMB Trade

Payments technology company Payoneer has teamed up with South Korean B2B marketplace EC21 to support cross-border trade involving Korean small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The deal will involve integrating Payoneer’s API and EC21’s billing system, according to a Tuesday (June 28) press release.

The partnership will integrate Payoneer’s ERP API service into the EC21 billing system. The solution “enables Korean SMBs to manage their Payoneer accounts, analyze their revenue, and send and receive payments in over 190 countries and territories, all directly from within the EC21 platform,” per the release.

EC21, which was founded in 2000, “connects millions of buyers and sellers from around the world with Korean B2B companies’ online storefronts,” according to the announcement, and is one of the biggest B2B platforms in Korea, with 90,000 SMB customers in the country using it to work with 2.5 million similarly sized enterprises globally.

By geography, 34% of EC21’s users are based in China, 13% in the United States and 7% in India, according to the release.

EC21 also offers consulting services related to trade.

“With the new Payoneer partnership, EC21 can better support domestic SMBs ready to explore and expand into overseas markets,” Young Look Song, chief executive of EC21, said in the release.

“The partnership with EC21 will serve as catalyst for SMBs in Korea to expand internationally and propel their business growth,” Woo Lee, vice president and regional head for East Asia at Payoneer, said in the announcement. “Korean SMBs now have the ability to buy and sell globally while paying and receiving payments according to local preferences, making it easier to partner with overseas suppliers and customers.”

Payoneer said its customers include Airbnb, Amazon, Google, Upwork and Walmart.

Two weeks ago, Payoneer announced a deal for the handling of cross-border payments with Fiserv. PYMNTS reported at the time that businesses could access a Payoneer platform through Fiserv’s Carat operating system.

Read more: Payoneer, Fiserv Team on Cross-Border Business Payments