Latest news with #DragonflyCapital
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Stablecoin company Conduit raises $36 million from Dragonfly Capital and Altos Ventures
Conduit, a stablecoin company founded in 2021, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $36 million led by Dragonfly Capital and Altos Ventures with participation from Sound Ventures, DCG, and Commerce Ventures. This round, a Series A, brings Conduit's total funding to $53 million. The company did not disclose its valuation in the round. Founder and CEO Kirill Gertman says Conduit's goal is to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper and more reliable for businesses worldwide. He said that his company settles international payments with stablecoins—a type of cryptocurrency that is designed to maintain a value in line with the U.S. dollar—in an attempt to complete transactions more quickly than traditional banks. In addition to helping companies send and receive stablecoins between countries, Conduit also helps its clients exchange local currencies for stablecoins and vice versa. 'Essentially, our service is the one-stop-shop for going in and out of local currencies and stablecoins,' Gertman said. Conduit supports 14 different fiat-currencies and operates in nine countries including the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, and Kenya. 'We have a network of over 20 banks across nine countries that we work with very closely that gives us the best access to local rails,' Gertman said, referring to the different payment infrastructure in each country. Conduit's payments service comes in the form of an app or can be embedded directly into a fintech platform's interface. The company produces revenue by charging customers a fee on each stablecoin transaction. Since launching its flagship service in late 2023, Conduit has grown to process more than $10 billion worth of transactions annually, Gertman said. The company services over 5,000 merchants globally and over 100 fintech platforms have embedded Conduit into their platforms. Many other companies are also focused on making cross-border payments easier with stablecoins. These companies include crypto firm Ripple and payments giant Stripe,which acquired Bridge, a stablecoin start-up, in October. Conduit plans to use the money raised in this round to introduce its product in five Asian countries by the end of the year and expand its client base to include new types of businesses. Clarification, May 28, 2025: This article has been updated to clarify that Altos Ventures co-led the round with Dragonfly Capital. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive: Stablecoin company Zar raises $7 million in round led by Dragonfly Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and VanEck Ventures
While they may be called something different in every country, corner stores offer convenient access to snacks and beverages as well as phone minutes and remittances. The former CEO of a Pakistan-based payments company Brandon Timinsky wants to add stablecoins to the list of what these mom and pop businesses handle. As stablecoins—a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a value in line with the U.S. dollar—become an increasingly integral option for settling cross-border payments, Timinsky wants to make it possible for people to exchange cash for crypto at any corner store with his company Zar. To do so, he has raised $7 million from Dragonfly Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and VanEck Ventures, with additional participation from Coinbase Ventures and the co-founders of the Solana blockchain, to launch Zar's flagship service. The company's valuation in the deal was not disclosed. After founding SadaPay in 2019—and selling it in 2024—Timinsky is seeking to harness the benefits of crypto in emerging markets. Since 2021, stablecoins like USDT and USDC have exploded into a $238 billion industry, including helping people outside of the U.S. settle cross-border payments and protect their wealth from inflation. Timinsky says his company will take advantage of the 28 million global registered mobile money agents—a person or business contracted to offer financial services outside of a bank—who facilitate more than $1.5 trillion worth of financial services annually. 'Zar is tapping into that infrastructure to create a cash for stablecoin exchange in the physical world,' Timinsky told Fortune. 'Like Coinbase is an exchange online, Zar is an exchange that exists in the physical world.' Timinsky said that while Zar is not available to the public yet, nearly 100,000 customers have signed up for a waitlist and about 7,000 vendors have expressed interest in adding its services to their stores. The interest spans 20 countries, he said, including in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nigeria, Lebanon, and Argentina. Zar is not initially targeting the U.S. market. Stablecoin use is not as popular in the U.S. because the local currency tends to be more stable and has more robust payment systems than other countries. It works like this: Customers will walk into a 'bodega' in Colombia or 'kirana store' in Pakistan and scan a QR code. That QR code will link to the Zar app where the customer can review the vendor's ratings, check out other nearby exchanges, and enter how much money they would like to exchange for stablecoins. Then, the customer hands over their cash and the stablecoins are deposited into their digital wallet. Vendors will be able to make money from this service by choosing the exchange rate they will charge customers and adding a margin for themselves to profit, Timinisky said. Additionally, Zar will charge a fee on each transaction which may vary by country. Zar's funding announcement is part of a growing movement of stablecoin companies trying to implement the underlying infrastructure to facilitate transactions for the class of cryptocurrency. A company called Rain issues credit cards to customers who want to settle transactions in stablecoins. Another company, Plasma, is building a blockchain specifically designed for stablecoin transactions. Timinsky says he plans to launch his service by the end of the summer. The company will use the money raised in this round to expand its team, add office space, and continue building out its technology. This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DoubleZero Foundation Secures $28 Million for Blockchain Infrastructure Expansion
DoubleZero Foundation has successfully closed a $28 million token funding round, co-led by Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital. The organization, which supports the DoubleZero protocol, aims to develop a global fiber network designed to enhance performance for blockchains and distributed systems. In addition to the leading investors, other participants in the funding round included Foundation Capital, Reciprocal Ventures, DBA, Borderless Capital, Superscrypt and Frictionless. The foundation plans to allocate the raised funds toward hiring personnel in key areas such as marketing, developer relations, and business development. This funding will also facilitate the network's transition from its testnet beta phase to a public mainnet anticipated later in the year. The launch of a permissioned testnet was also announced, allowing Solana validators and RPCs to participate in the testing phase. Austin Federa, co-founder of DoubleZero, indicated that the primary focus is currently onboarding Solana validators before advancing to a permissionless testnet. The testnet is operational in seven global cities: Singapore, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Kyle Samani, managing partner at Multicoin Capital, explained that the public internet's bandwidth limitations and unpredictable routing create challenges in delivering reliable experiences akin to Web2. DoubleZero intends to address these issues, aiming to enhance bandwidth and reduce latency for high-performance blockchains through fiber links provided by independent network contributors. Core contributors to the project include Malbec Labs and Jump Crypto. The foundation's initiatives are positioned to lay the groundwork for a new physical infrastructure that supports the evolving landscape of blockchain technology.
