Félix Pago’s $15.5m for WhatsApp remittances, Fortunafi’s $9.5m for asset tokenization, and more big wins

The past week has been filled with significant venture capital activity in the crypto space, highlighting many startups making major strides. Here’s a summary of the most important financing news.

Félix Pago aims to simplify remittances

Latin American remittance startup Félix Pago has raised $15.5 million in a Series A round led by Castle Island Ventures, according to TechCrunch.

The company, which helps employees send money across borders using WhatsApp, plans to expand its presence in Latin America and the US

CEO Manuel Godoy emphasized the convenience of using WhatsApp as an interface that allows users to send and receive money through a chatbot.

On the receiving end, users can receive the money as instant bank deposit or cash at locations in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. Using Circle’s USDC stablecoin helps Félix Pago save on foreign exchange costs, making transactions cheaper and faster compared to traditional methods such as SWIFT.

Jordan Fish (aka Cobie) supports Fortunafi

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform Fortunafi has raised $9.51 million in funding from Shima Capital and Manifold.

Investors included prominent names like Jordan Fish (aka Cobie), host of the “Up Only” podcast, and Ari Litan of LayerZero Labs.

Today we are READY to announce the completion of our Strategic Funding Round! 🚀

With ~$10 million in total funding, we begin our next journey: #RWA product presentation and launch of our upcoming product #stablecoin protocol. 🔥

Why are we excited 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Thd71AhJnp

— Fortunafi (@_Fortunafi) May 30, 2024

The funding will be used to further develop Fortunafi’s platform and expand its reach in the crypto market.

Additionally, Fortunafi also introduced its new stablecoin protocol called Reservoir.

The round, structured as equity capital with token warrants, increased the company’s valuation to $48.165 million.

SwitchBoard’s net earnings are $7.5 million

SwitchBoard, an on-chain oracle startup, also benefited from this week’s VC activity, raising $7.5 million in a Series A round co-led by Tribe Capital and RockawayX.

Backed by the Solana Foundation, Aptos, and StarkWare, the company plans to use the funds to expand Oracle tools and use cases for web3 developers.

SwitchBoard’s permissionless oracle network provides a secure and cost-effective solution by connecting decentralized applications to real-world data. The platform currently has a total value of over $1.78 billion, according to DeFiLlama.

SCRYPT earns $5 million, doubles customer base

Swiss crypto asset services provider SCRYPT has raised $5 million in financing led by Brazilian Braza Bank and supported by Funfair Ventures, Cabrit Capital and Atlantic Labs.

The company reportedly doubled its customer base and increased its trading volume by 18 times compared to the previous year.

With this new capital, SCRYPT plans to expand into the LATAM market by leveraging Braza Bank’s expertise in foreign exchange and cross-border payments.

STON.fi secured $3.6 million for DEX growth

Another European blockchain company that received financial support last week was UK-based decentralized exchange STON.fi.

$3.6 million in funding was raised in a round led by CoinFund. Delphi Ventures, Karatage and TON Ventures also participated in the round.

STON.fi said it will use the funds to improve operations and expand financial services for Telegram users, allowing instant exchange of Toncoin (TON) and USD stablecoins for any native token.

Coinflow and Plural raise $2.3 million each

Rounding out the week’s VC action, Coinflow and Plural raised $2.3 million from various backers.

Instant payments provider Coinflow has raised money in a seed round led by CMT Digital. Other investors included DCG, Reciprocal Ventures, Jump Crypto and Draper Dragon. The company said it will use the funds to expand its sales, engineering and compliance teams.

Coinflow’s platform allows businesses to instantly process transactions with stablecoins, supports over 50 merchants, and has been growing rapidly since its launch in early 2023.

Plural, which provides on-chain investment solutions for renewable energy developers, raised $2.3 million in a round led by Neil Devani of Necessary Ventures and Michael Dempsey of Compound. Volt Capital and Maven 11 also participated.

The company also announced its first offering with Solaris Energy, which aims to provide innovative investment options in the renewable energy sector.

Check out previous VC Recaps below

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