Dwolla to Expand Outside the Midwest with $16.5M in New Funding

With a new round of funding, Des Moines, Iowa-based alternative payments company Dwolla plans to add to its headcount in Iowa and New York and expand to San Francisco.

The $16.5 million round of Series C funding is led by Andreessen Horowitz. Dwolla's existing investors, including Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures and Village Ventures support the round.

While Dwolla's first investors were "friends and banking partners," Andreessen Horowitz is a firm not afraid to scale, which is what Dwolla hopes they'll get from the funding, says Ben Milne, Dwolla founder, in an April 30 blog post. "These are the 'foot slammed on the gas pedal driving a prototype flying tank' kind of people we have been looking for."

Dwolla's chief operating officer, Charise Flynn, will oversee the new office in San Francisco focusing on product, business development and marketing. The company has already begun adding more employees and is still hiring.

Dwolla has offices in Kansas City, New York City, Omaha, Neb. and Des Moines, Iowa.

In the Midwest, Dwolla recenlty partnered with the Iowa State Government and began working with the low-margin farming industry. .