i2c, PingPong Team up on Cross-Border eCommerce

Digital payments and banking company i2c has joined forces with Chinese tech unicorn PingPong to provide cross-border eCommerce payment solutions to business owners.

According to a company news release Wednesday (April 6), the partnership will see PingPong employ i2c’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform to expand its commercial credit services to new regions, particularly Europe and Hong Kong SAR. The companies say this product gives merchants access to instant payouts and lower transaction fees.

Read more: Payments Firm PingPong Considers $1B IPO

“We are thrilled to work with such an innovative platform that’s redefining global e-commerce for sellers,” i2c General Manager, MEA Region Aurangzaib Khan said in the release. “By providing an all-in-one payments solution to a massive B2B market, with key differentiators like real-time transactions and significantly lower transaction fees, PingPong is breaking down international business barriers and putting sellers’ needs at the forefront.”

“We chose to work with i2c because of their deep global footprint and unmatched experience in digital payments,” said Yu Chen, PingPong founder and CEO. “The partnership provides best-in-class integrated service to our growing portfolio, and through this collaborative expansion we can now cement PingPong’s mission to redefine the digital payment experience for sellers, entrepreneurs, and business owners worldwide.”

The companies say their collaboration will let PingPong use i2c’s Visa and Mastercard certifications to issue and process cards in Hong Kong SAR, and i2c’s Visa certification to issue and process in Europe.

Learn more: i2c, Visa Team for FinTech Processing Across MENA

Last month, i2c launched a partnership with Visa to become a FinTech processor in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region.

With this partnership, FinTechs in that region can access Visa’s network and i2c’s issuing and processing platform using the companies’ suite of digital solutions and payments technologies.

PingPong became a “unicorn” — meaning its value surpassed $1 billion — in 2020. But that figure had ballooned to $5 billion by January of this year when reports emerged that the company was considering going public through an initial public offering on the Hong Kong market.