- Female-founded fintech company Park Place Payments announced it raised $1.5 million. These are the details.
Park Place Payments — a female-founded fintech building a new payment processing experience for businesses while also closing the wealth gap for women who join its sales force — announced it has raised a $1.5 million seed funding round led by Curate Capital.
The company had closed this funding round during the pandemic as funding for women-led companies saw a 27% decline, dropping to just 2.3% of all venture financing in 2020. And this raise will fuel accelerated growth for the company whose single-minded commitment to service is already upending the payment processing industry’s traditional priorities and will be allocated primarily to expanding the team and product offerings.
Over the last year, Park Place Payments saw a 371% growth in its sales force — which is expected to reach 1,200 by the end of 2021 and a doubling of its corporate headcount, including its award-winning in-house Los Angeles-based customer service team. And with a 92% increase in merchant clients and a 134% increase in monthly processing volume since March 2020, Park Place is satisfying small business owners’ desire to choose partners that embrace a service-first philosophy while delivering innovative solutions for virtual and contactless payments.
Samantha Ettus founded Park Place Payments in 2018, having observed women struggling to find viable employment after time out of the workforce and others whose earning potential was capped because of race, gender, age, and education. And with nearly 3 million additional women exiting the workforce since the pandemic began, Park Place Payments provides an unmatched solution for them to return to work or leave their full-time positions for more flexibility while seizing control of their financial future.
Additional investor highlights for the round include Katherine August-deWilde (former President and current Vice Chair at First Republic Bank), Anne Clarke Wolff (former Global Head of Investment Banking at Bank of America), Jackie Shoback (Co-Founder, 1414 Ventures and former GM at Staples Online), Lisa Stone (Managing Director, WestRiver Group and Co-Founder at BlogHer), Jason Levien (CEO & Managing General Owner at DC United), and XFactor Ventures.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re thrilled about this remarkable and diverse group of investors. This group will be pivotal in supporting our mission to help more businesses while delivering meaningful opportunities and financial stability for more women at a time when it’s most needed.”
— Founder and CEO Samantha Ettus
“At Curate Capital, we are passionate about investing in businesses by women for women. First and foremost, we invest in winning women – and that’s exactly who Park Place’s Founder and CEO Samantha Ettus is. We invest in businesses that cater to the unique needs of women and we wholeheartedly believe in the nationwide sales force that Park Place Payments is building.”
— Carrie Colbert, Founding and General Partner, Curate Capital
