Phoebe, the innovative payments infrastructure startup founded by Matt Henderson and James Summerfield, has successfully raised $17 million in their Seed Round. The round was led by GV (Google Ventures) and Cherry Ventures, underscoring growing investor confidence in fintech solutions that simplify and modernize the way businesses move money.

This infusion of capital positions Phoebe to accelerate product development, strengthen its engineering team, and push forward with its ambitious mission: making payments not just faster, but smarter and more adaptable to modern businesses’ needs.

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Who Is Phoebe and What Problem Are They Solving?

At its core, Phoebe is tackling one of the most pressing challenges in financial operations: the inefficiencies of legacy payment systems. Despite decades of progress, businesses still struggle with:

• Slow settlement times that delay cash flow.
  
• Complex integrations with outdated banking infrastructure.
  
• Poor transparency in cross-border transactions.
  
• High costs and fees that drain margins for SMEs and startups.
  

Henderson and Summerfield, both veterans in building scalable financial systems, saw an opportunity to create a platform that prioritizes speed, trust, and adaptability. Phoebe’s solution is designed to work seamlessly across borders, embedding payments directly into modern workflows without the friction that businesses have grown used to tolerating.

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The $17 Million Seed Round: Who’s Backing Phoebe?

The Seed Round was anchored by two powerhouse investors:

• GV (Google Ventures): Known for backing category-defining companies, GV’s participation signals strong belief in Phoebe’s potential to reshape financial infrastructure at scale.
  
• Cherry Ventures: A venture fund with a reputation for spotting early winners in fintech and SaaS, Cherry brings deep expertise in helping startups expand rapidly across Europe and beyond.
  

Together, these investors provide not only funding but also strategic guidance and networks that could accelerate Phoebe’s market entry.

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Why This Raise Matters in Today’s Fintech Landscape

The fintech sector has seen massive investment over the past decade, but payments remain one of the hardest nuts to crack. While digital wallets, BNPL, and embedded finance have become hot topics, B2B payments lag significantly behind B2C in terms of innovation and user experience.

Phoebe is positioning itself at this critical intersection - helping businesses pay, receive, and reconcile transactions with the same ease consumers enjoy in their everyday digital interactions. If successful, they could unlock a significant competitive advantage for companies burdened by outdated financial operations.

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An Insight for Founders: Payments as a Growth Multiplier

One lesson often overlooked in early-stage ventures is how deeply payments infrastructure affects growth velocity. It’s not just about sending or receiving money - it’s about how smoothly cash moves across the business ecosystem.

Here’s where the most forward-looking founders gain an edge:

• Streamlined payment flows reduce friction in customer acquisition.
  
• Faster settlement cycles free up working capital, improving resilience.
  
• Transparent cross-border capabilities enable global expansion earlier in the startup journey.
  

Founders who think of payments not as a cost center but as a growth enabler are often the ones who scale more sustainably. This is exactly the space Phoebe is stepping into, and it’s why their vision resonates not just with investors, but also with the businesses they aim to serve.

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What’s Next for Phoebe?

With fresh capital, Phoebe is expected to double down on:

• Product development  -  refining their payment rails to support larger transaction volumes and more geographies.
  
• Talent acquisition  -  bringing in engineers, compliance experts, and partnership leads.
  
• Market entry  -  targeting fintech-forward markets in Europe before expanding to the U.S.
  

Given Henderson’s and Summerfield’s backgrounds, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Phoebe move quickly from pilot phases to enterprise-scale rollouts.

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The Fintech Industry Outlook

According to McKinsey’s Global Payments Report 2024, the global payments industry surpassed $2.2 trillion in revenue, with B2B payments accounting for nearly $1 trillion of that figure. Yet, inefficiencies cost businesses billions annually in lost time, failed transactions, and compliance errors.

• Cross-border payments alone are projected to hit $290 trillion by 2030, fueled by globalization and digital trade.
  
• Fintech adoption among SMEs has risen from 16% in 2015 to over 60% in 2023, showing demand for more agile alternatives to legacy banks.
  
• Investors continue to view infrastructure plays - like Phoebe - as more defensible than consumer-facing fintechs, given the recurring, mission-critical nature of payments.
  

This context makes Phoebe’s raise particularly timely. By positioning themselves at the heart of B2B transaction flows, they are tapping into one of the most valuable and under-served markets in financial services.

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Final Thoughts

Phoebe’s $17 million Seed Round is more than just another fintech funding headline - it’s a statement about where the industry is headed. With GV and Cherry Ventures in their corner, Henderson and Summerfield are building not just a payments platform, but potentially a new standard for business transactions.

As businesses demand speed, transparency, and global compatibility in their financial operations, Phoebe is well-placed to deliver. If they succeed, they won’t just improve how companies move money - they’ll reshape how businesses grow in the digital-first economy.