UK fintech Glint announced on Thursday it is now seeking £15 million through its Series A financing round to expand into the U.S. and Japan by the end of this year. This news comes nearly eight months after the company launched its mobile app, which allows users to spend gold as the global currency. As previously reported, Glint revealed that by using the Glint iOS app and the Glint Mastercard, the company’s clients are able to spend gold through the global payment system. Co-Founder and CEO, Jason Cozens, stated at the time:
“Glint’s ability to use gold as money as part of the global payments system is a landmark event. Everyone is familiar with gold as one of society’s oldest means of exchange, its universal acceptance, its reliability, its history as a store of wealth and as a means of underpinning the value of ‘paper’ currencies. Unlike ‘paper’ currencies gold can’t be wiped out, devalued or corrupted.”
Speaking about the U.S. expansion, co-founder Ben Davies shared:
“Since December, we’ve been working non-stop towards the U.S. launch. Right now, we have a gold liquidity account and accounts for sterling, U.S. dollars, and euros. In the U.S., there’s a natural philosophical bias for wanting to use gold and save in gold. So we’ll launch there with a savings account, a currency account, and a gold account, while rolling out about 20 new settlement currencies over the next two quarters to give our users the interbank rate.”
Glint also revealed that by the fourth quarter of 2018 users will be able to hold and spend in Canadian dollars, yen, and Hong Kong dollars. The customers will also have a personal IBAN. Glint also noted that a small portion of its £15 million raise will be done through a crowdfunding campaign. Davies added:
“I think the great thing about companies like us who are emerging in financial services sector is that we’re not constrained by borders. Others like Natwest, RBS or Santander are constrained by a national identifier. We are ubiquitous, and are being seen as the same all over the world.”