Dakota, a Fintech described as a “crypto-integrated business banking platform,” has announced a $12.5 million Series A funding round.
The funding was led by CoinFund, with participation from 6th Man Ventures (6MV) and Triton Ventures. The new money is expected to be used for accelerating the development of creating a globally accessible business account that matches the speed of stablecoins with the safety of Treasuries.
Dakota was founded by Fintech veterans with experience at Square, Coinbase, and Airbnb.
Dakota will enable users to hold stablecoins while leveraging legacy rails such as SWIFT, ACH, SEPA, and Fedwire. The company says its blockchain tech makes money movement nearly instant.
Today, Dakota reports serving more than 500 business customers, processing billions of dollars in annualized transactions.
Ryan Bozarth, CEO and co-founder of Dakota, says companies today are mostly default global but they are hamstrung by legacy operations like wire transfers. Dakota wants to make global transfers as simple as domestic ones.
“Our goal with Dakota is to bring banking into the internet age — giving businesses the ability to move money as instantly and freely as information travels, without sacrificing security or compliance.”
The digital asset-focused legislation expected to be approved in Congress this week is expected to support Dakota’s mission. At the same time, global jurisdictions are already doing, or planning to enact, similar rules for the digital asset ecosystem.
Alex Felix, CIO of CoinFund, predicts that stablecoins will revolutionize the business banking sector. By combining a familiar bank account with digital asset technology, Dakota will be able to provide superior services without operational changes.
Dakota says it is broadening to customers across 100+ jurisdictions, including in the UK, EU (under MiCA regulations), Singapore, and Latin America.
