Web3 Payments Firm Transak Raises $20M

Web3 payments startup Transak has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by early-stage venture capital firm CE Innovation Capital. The new capital will be used toward a continued global expansion and to help build out the onboarding solutions, including those for Web3 games and financial applications, according to a press release provided to CoinDesk.

The importance of bringing Web2 users into Web3 is a common narrative in the crypto industry, with some seeing the transition as the pathway to the next billion Web3 users. However, Web3 has a widespread problem with clunky user interfaces that don’t feel organic to many Web2 users. A growing number of infrastructure projects aim to correct that user experience problem.

A Web3 platform can embed Transak’s payment and onboarding infrastructure to make it easier for users to buy and sell crypto assets in a way that could feel more natural for Web2 users, said the company. Transak handles the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, risk monitoring and compliance, payment methods and customer support. The product suite includes the on- and off-ramps needed to bring fiat in and out of crypto, a fiat-to-smart contract solution called Transak One and a fiat-to-non-fungible token (NFT) checkout.

Founded in 2019 by chief executive officer Sam Start and chief technology officer Yeshu Agarwal, Transak supports onboarding from over 150 countries to more than 160 cryptocurrencies across over 75 blockchains, according to the company. Clients using Transak solutions include crypto wallets MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet and the open-source liquidity protocol Aave.

Transak is registered as a crypto asset firm with the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is recognized as a virtual asset service provider (VASP) in Poland. The company plans to pursue additional licenses and establish presences in other regions with priority on the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

Other backers in the round included SBI Ven Capital, Sygnum, Azimut, Third Kind Venture Capital, UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, Animoca Brands, Genting Ventures, Istari Ventures, No Limit Holdings, Woodstock Fund, IOSG Ventures, KX, Axelar, Tokentus, and The Lao, among others.

CORRECTION (Jan. 4, 2024, 13:03 UTC): Corrects spelling of "Your" in third paragraph.