Skydo secures RBI approval as cross-border payment aggregator

Cross-border payments company Skydo has received in-principle authorization from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB) entity. Skydo is among the first companies in the cross-border payments space to receive this authorization.

According to Skydo, this will further strengthen its goal of making cross-border payments compliant, seamless, and cost-effective for India’s exporters. The company began operations in 2022 and currently serves over 12,000 exporters in India, processing over $250 million in annual export payments.

Skydo states that its customers are small and medium businesses selling a range of products and services to global customers. The platform partners with leading banks worldwide and provides a comprehensive solution to manage invoicing, payments, and reconciliation.

The Bengaluru-based company’s key features include transparent pricing and fees with no markup on live mid-market forex rates, digital onboarding with instant KYC, dedicated customer support, fast settlements, and streamlined regulatory compliance with instant issuance of Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA).

With this approval, Skydo plans to scale its payments volume by 10x over the next 18-24 months, expand to support import payments, and build more trade corridors globally. The company also intends to introduce several first-to-market offerings for India's growing MSME export sector. It will extend its services to credit, tax compliance, treasury services, and Export Data Processing and Monitoring System (EDPMS) reconciliation.

Skydo has also recently secured Payment Service Provider (PSP) approval from Amazon, enabling it to process payments for exporters participating in Amazon's Global Selling program.

Skydo aims to make cross-border B2B payments hassle-free and reduce forex charges for businesses by more than 50%. It has raised $9.7 million in equity funding so far, led by Elevation Capital. The company partners with leading banks globally and provides businesses and freelancers with foreign virtual accounts for receiving payments without taxation or compliance burdens.