Funds will support company's efforts to expand its global team and add new features to transform crypto financial operations for enterprises
SAINT-JULIEN-EN-GENEVOIS, FRANCE / ACCESSWIRE / June 9, 2022 / Web3 enterprise crypto payments startup Request Financehas closed a $5.5 million seed round with participation from institutional backers including prominent metaverse company Animoca Brands, Europe's leading early-stage venture capital investor Balderton Capital, and XAnge.
The round also attracted a star-studded lineup of Web3 founders, including Sebastien Borget co-founder and COO at The Sandbox, Michael Kong, CEO of Fantom, and Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave, and Julien Bouteloup, Founder of StakeDAO.
The infusion of funds will help Request Finance continue to deliver on its mission to simplify enterprise payments for crypto-native companies. Since its January 2021 launch, Request has already helped nearly 2,000 Web3 teams manage and automate their invoicing, expenses, payroll, and accounting from a unified dashboard.
"The opportunities that lie in powering payments for the open metaverse have attracted a number of large, traditional payment companies. But crypto-native solutions like Request Finance play a critical role in addressing the needs of Web3 enterprises and their communities," said Yat Siu, Animoca Brands' Executive Chairman and co-founder.
Request's focus on addressing common pain points like regulatory compliance and financial reporting has garnered attention from verticals across the Web3 ecosystem. This includes DeFi companies like Aave, metaverse and NFT-related projects like The Sandbox, and DAOs like Maker.
Request's robust suite of enterprise-friendly features like on-chain payment confirmations, automated billing, mark-to-market exchange rates, and integrations with accounting software like Quickbooks and Xero have helped the company quickly grow into the leading enterprise crypto payments platform.
"The popularity of cryptocurrencies poses serious challenges to CFOs and their teams. Bank accounts are increasingly replaced by wallets, financial institutions now compete with decentralized lending protocols, and legacy payment networks are being replaced by blockchains. The traditional enterprise finance software stack made of tools like Melio payments or Bill.com is less relevant than a crypto-native tool like Request Finance," said Maxime Le Dantec, Principal at Balderton Capital.
The rise of remote work in recent years has led many teams to turn to Request Finance to simplify their payments infrastructure and manage their global payroll in crypto, which has become essential in an era of distributed teams.