C14, a “next-generation” payments and transfers service for digital assets, has raised $2.5 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst.
According to an email from a representative, the funding will enable the company to continue to build out new payment rails as well as fuel new partnerships with traditional banks and payment processors in emerging markets.
C14 believes that simplified crypto/fiat access is the top problem facing developers as well as consumers today. Current crypto ramps are clunky, and the market is rather large. C14 aims to solve this problem with its fiat-to-crypto payment flow which is described as a “seamless, ecommerce-like payments widget that can be embedded in websites and dApps across partner blockchain ecosystems.”
The widget will support users in established markets as well as emerging and underserved markets by integrating with the most adopted payment rails in each coverage zone.
C14 was founded by CEO Erich Grant – the former Director of Business Development at Wyre.
C14 is based in Massachusetts but is a registered VASP in Lithuania (so the EU), as well as being registered in multiple states in the US as well as the UK.
To quote the C14 website:
“We’re not the first to build fiat <> crypto payment ramps, and we’ll likely not be the last. But what we are doing is building something different…something better… a payment flow that innovates on the current paradigm of fiat <> crypto payment flow and empowers users around the world to seamlessly engage with digital assets on our partners’ networks.
We do this by incorporating all the things that work well with current payment flows, and adding elements that are severely lacking from the current product offerings. In this way, we hope to add maximum value for our partners and power real global ecosystem adoption for the chains we work with.”