- Polish crypto infrastructure startup Ramp has raised its second funding round in six months.
- Ramp, which bills itself as a PayPal for crypto, has raised $53 million to further fuel its growth.
- The startup allows users to convert fiat money like US dollars to crypto assets.
Ramp, a startup that describes itself as a PayPal of crypto, has raised $53 million in its second funding round in six months.
The company, founded in 2017 by Polish entrepreneurs Przemek Kowalczyk and Szymon Sypniewicz, uses a software development kit (SDK) to allow users to convert fiat money such as US dollars into crypto assets like NFTs and bitcoin.
Ramp compares its approach to that of Stripe or PayPal by allowing any website, app, or service to embed payment infrastructure into their existing systems. But in the case of Ramp, the startup’s tech enables users to pay using crypto.
The company hopes to tap into increasing adoption of cryptocurrency payments across different platforms. Although cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and under regulatory scrutiny, adopters continue to be lured by the possibility of big returns.
A spokesperson for Ramp said cryptocurrencies had moved “beyond just speculation”, pointing to growing use cases such as marketplaces for non-fungible tokens, or the cryptocurrency-oriented game “Axie Infinity.”
“But for these companies, onboarding new users remains a huge challenge, and abandonment rates remain high for those which have not adequately addressed this,” the spokesperson added. “This is why the crypto payments infrastructure space is so exciting now.”
The startup gained FCA approval in July and then recently won regulatory approval from US FinCen (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network).
“Regulation is essential to companies like ourselves, giving peace of mind to new customers and ensuring more people can embrace crypto,” Ramp’s spokesperson said.
Ramp’s fresh $52.7 million Series A round was led by London fund Balderton Capital and comes six months after its seed round. Existing investors NFX, Galaxy Digital, Seedcamp, and Firstminute Capital also participated, alongside angel investors, including Wise cofounder Taavet Hinrikus and Truelayer CEO Francesco Simonesci.
The company claims to have grown 30-fold since the beginning of 2021 and more than tripled its team following its previous round. Ramp will use the new funding to further expand its team as well as increase the number of partnerships it has with other companies in the enterprise, B2C, and B2B spaces. It already works with some 400 developers including Axie Infinity, Mozilla, Opera Browser, Dapper Labs, Aave, Argent, Trust Wallet, and Zerion.
Check out Ramp’s pitch deck below:
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