Car IQ brings innovation to the $600 billion connected vehicle payment market by enabling vehicles to control the purchase of their own fuel and services.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 7, 2023 — Car IQ Inc., a leader in vehicle payments, today announced it exceeded its fundraising target with a $15 million addition to the Series B. The round was led by Forte Ventures with participation from existing investors including State Farm Ventures®, TELUS Ventures, and Avanta Ventures (the corporate venture arm of CSAA Insurance Group). New strategic investors Visa, Bridgestone, Navistar, and Circle K also joined the round, which brings the total funding raised to-date to $42 million.

Founded in 2016, Car IQ created a new form of machine identity verification allowing vehicles to connect directly with banks and service providers and make purchases without the use of a physical credit card. The company’s product, Car IQ Pay, offers commercial fleets an easier way to pay for fuel, tolls, and parking by leveraging vehicle data to automate the payment process. This allows fleets to manage their spending more effectively, develop unique insights, and reduce fraud. Currently Car IQ Pay is accepted at over 21,500 fuel stations nationwide including Shell, Sunoco and others across the US.

The new funds will be used to accelerate the expansion of the Car IQ payment platform in the face of increasing demand from customers and merchants, and to add new commerce categories such as electric vehicle charging, repairs, registration, and insurance.

“These funds will allow us to move faster and meet the market demands from fleets in the commercial and OTR trucking spaces,” said Sterling Pratz, CEO of Car IQ. “Incorporating vehicle data to the payment transaction is a game-changer: we can determine what the vehicle needs before it buys, validate the purchase after the fact, and make the experience for the driver completely frictionless.”

“Car IQ continues to excel in today’s challenging economic climate,” said Louis Rajczi, partner of Forte Ventures. “The company’s patented technology, ability to attract strategic investments from major fintech and automotive companies, and high-level commercial partnerships are laying the groundwork for rapid growth of their vehicle payment solution.”

Market sizing source: Ptolemus Consulting Group, The Connected Vehicle Payments Global Study, 2020.

About Car IQ Inc.

Car IQ® has created a payment network for cars that eliminates the need for physical credit cards and enables vehicles to connect to merchants and transact securely. Using Car IQ Pay vehicles can automatically initiate and complete payments for services ranging from fueling, toll management, paid parking, EV charging, and more. Car IQ’s payment solution delivers value by reducing fraud and risk for fleets and participating merchants. For more information, visit https://www.gocariq.com 

About Forte Ventures

With offices in Atlanta and Silicon Valley, Forte Ventures is a multi-stage venture capital firm that collaborates and co-invests with corporate strategic partners in technology companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. The team simultaneously focuses on helping entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of corporate investment and on serving as trusted partners to institutional and corporate strategic syndicate partners. For more information, visit www.forteventures.com  

SOURCE Car IQ

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2023 — abillion, the emerging sustainability-focused social media and e-commerce platform with over a million members globally, has launched a community investment round on Wefunder. The venture-backed company is choosing to invite retail investors and its community of members – who would ordinarily only get access after an IPO – to invest.

abillion’s social commerce platform’s community boasts over 2.5 million user-generated reviews of consumer products. 4,700 Software-as-a-Service customers are on recurring contracts, eyeing new user acquisitions as a strong motivator. abillion has seen whooping 20x growth over the last two years.

The round is led by Nicholas Cator, who led Series A and B rounds in Oatly ($13b IPO), Chewy ($22b IPO) and Lazada (SE Asia’s largest marketplace, acquired by Alibaba). abillion previously raised $16M in Series A funding from notable investors including 500 Global, SDG Impact Japan, and Blue Horizon, and has launched its Regulation CF community round on leading community investment platform, Wefunder. 500 Global, which led abillion’s seed round and has backed 51 unicorns, is also participating again in this round.

“Since launching our Community Equity program in 2022, we’ve brought on board more than 10k of our members around the world as stakeholders in our vision for a better world. This year, as we raise capital to grow, we’re proud to be opening up our investment round to our community of members and anyone that believes in our mission to create a better, more impactful social network.” Vikas Garg.

The abillion team is made up of leaders from the world’s leading companies including Credit Suisse, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Delivery Hero, Yahoo, Apple and Microsoft. abillion’s Founder and CEO, Vikas Garg, is a finance industry veteran having managed over $10 billion for investment banks, hedge funds, public pension funds & sovereign wealth funds of California, Canada, Abu Dhabi and Singapore.

abillion’s current investment round is open to both accredited and non-accredited investors alike, with an investment minimum of $100.

Invest: https://wefunder.com/abillion.
Contact: [email protected] 
Logos: here
Photos: here

About abillion

Founded by CEO Vikas Garg in 2018, our mission is to mobilise a billion people to save the world, by making better choices for the planet.

Through our unique giving program, abillion has donated over US $2.5 million to create impact for animals, children and the environment.

https://impact.abillion.com/about

SOURCE abillion

ATLANTA, Feb. 6, 2023 — Atlanta, GA based Quipli (quipli.com), fast becoming the market leader of software in the $60bn equipment rental market, announced today that it has raised $3.5M from Boundless Venture Co (bvco.co), a venture studio based out of Oakland, CA. The capital will be put towards expanding Quipli’s cutting-edge technology and ensuring that it continues to deliver the best equipment rental management solution to its customers.

“We have worked with Kyle Clements [Quipli founder and CEO] since Quipli was just an idea, and we couldn’t be more excited to announce our continued support and partnership with him and the team,” said Dan Saper, CEO of Boundless. “We found that customers in this market have been frustrated with legacy options and are ready for the next generation of software. The pain points are real and the opportunity is massive.”

Quipli has exploded from zero to over 100 equipment rental customers in just its first 18 months of existence, and continues to iterate quickly as it serves more and more upmarket customers.

“It’s amazing what a modern technology platform can do, in terms of speed of new product releases. Many customers were asking for a Service & Repair module in Q4, and we were able to deliver this feature in just a few weeks based on great feedback by our customer base,” said Clements.

Clements has been selected by the American Rental Association (“ARA”) to headline its upcoming Future of Rental panel at the Annual ARA Show on February 11th.

Court Kasten joined Quipli from Clutch Automotive and Sage Intacct as its COO in 2022 to help scale the business. “We added nearly 20 people to the team in the last year to keep up with demand and to continue to provide best-in-class customer support,” said Kasten. “We’re proud to offer free support and 5-minute response times on emails during business hours.”

Quipli has recently added several high profile customers, including Arapahoe, Haulotte, SANY, and Sonsray.

“Quipli is clearly leading the next generation of software in the equipment rental market,” said Evan Moore, General Manager of Arapahoe Rental, which runs nine locations across Colorado and Wyoming. “We hit many dead ends during our hunt for a fully web based rental management software with multi location capabilities and an integrated ecommerce website with real time availability. We ran trials with multiple software vendors side-by-side for several months, and there was no comparison to Quipli’s pace of development, and customer support.  Quipli listens to our needs regularly and shows an excitement to develop requested features. The crew at Quipli has made Arapahoe Rental feel like a partnership and not just another Customer.”

About Quipli 
Quipli, founded in 2020 and based in Atlanta, GA, specializes in developing the latest equipment rental software for independent rental companies. Their platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools including e-commerce storefront, inventory management, payments and billing, invoicing, service and repair, as well as marketing services, all accessible through a cloud-based solution. Quipli is committed to providing robust security, easy implementation and outstanding customer support for it’s construction equipment rental software platform, with a response time of just 5 minutes during business hours through chat, phone, email, and text support.

About Boundless 
Founded in 2020 and based in Oakland, CA, Boundless is a venture studio building the next generation of vertical SaaS companies. Boundless ideates, funds, and builds powerful SaaS solutions for industries traditionally overlooked by venture capital. Boundless partners with aspiring entrepreneurs to co-create the companies from scratch and help them launch, build, and grow software businesses that can endure profitably for decades.

Contact:
(407) 634-2139 
[email protected]

SOURCE Quipli

Witnessing a growing appetite for insights into on-chain activity, the blockchain data intelligence company doubled headcount and tripled valuation in 2022

NEW YORK, Feb. 6, 2023 — Elementus — a web3 company whose blockchain data intelligence platform helps forward-thinking, data-driven organizations of all sizes to leverage the power of blockchain — today announced a $10M Series A-2 funding round led by ParaFi Capital, a crypto-native investment and technology firm that has led early-stage rounds in dozens of blockchain companies. The investment brings Elementus’ total funding to $27M following a $12M raise late in 2021 and comes amidst a growing need for more transparency across blockchain-based businesses following a year marked by a number of high-profile collapses in the broader cryptocurrency landscape.

ParaFi is a crypto-native investment and technology firm founded in 2018 focused on token, venture, and quantitative strategies. One of the earliest and largest institutional investors in the space, ParaFi has backed many of the industry’s pioneering innovators and protocols and employs a deeply technical approach to investing, leveraging the protocols and infrastructure it invests in. Its lead investment in Elementus comes after an active year despite down markets.

“Despite recent headwinds in the industry, we continue to see unparalleled innovation within the blockchain space—and we’re only scratching the surface of the transformational impact this technology will have on legacy business models and the global economy,” said Ryan Navi, principal at ParaFi Capital. “We believe there are significant value-creation opportunities at the data and infrastructure layer of blockchain, where platforms will not only make blockchain data more accessible and transparent but also drive new insights and revenue opportunities for customers. We believe that this segment of the blockchain ecosystem will play a large role in the next phase of growth and anticipate widespread adoption. When we first met Max and heard his vision for Elementus, we saw an entrepreneur and a company that was perfectly positioned to capitalize on this opportunity. We couldn’t be more excited to invest in this team and help them fulfill their potential.”

“Last year has thrown into the limelight the tremendous importance of comprehension, auditability, and transparency of blockchains,” said Max Galka, CEO of Elementus. “As the broader crypto industry seeks to emerge from a tough year, it will be critical to do so in a way that foments trust, reliability and security among both users and businesses operating in this still-nascent market. This new strategic investment from ParaFi allows us to continue building the world’s most advanced industrial-grade blockchain data solutions in the world that will help return confidence and transparency to blockchain-based businesses.”

Elementus’ blockchain intelligence platform is being used by financial institutions to build the future of finance and commerce on the bedrock of blockchain and digital currencies, and by key U.S. governmental agencies to solve some of the most high-profile ransomware investigations. Its platform — which enables investigation of on-chain activities, identifying risk and discovering valuable market intelligence — provides the most complete data set and sophisticated tagging/attribution capabilities on the market, resulting in the actionable insights businesses need to grow and prosper safely in a web3 world. Elementus’s data-first core and proprietary algorithms give it a complete view into the flow of funds at the most granular level, empowering financial services and crypto exchanges to use blockchain data strategically with the highest degree of confidence.

Funds from the $10M A-2 raise are earmarked for hiring and new product development. The ParaFi-led round comes one year after the company’s Series A funding round and adds to an already noteworthy 2022, in which Elementus:

• Increased its valuation 208%, from $52M to $160M;
• Doubled its headcount, including the expansion of its leadership team with three strategic hires from Meta, JPMorgan, and Global Relay;
• Was named to The Information’s 50 Most Promising Startups of 2022 list in the crypto category;
• Selected by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Celsius Network and of BlockFi as Blockchain Intelligence and Forensics Expert in two of the most high-profile crypto bankruptcies.

About Elementus
Elementus helps solve the toughest blockchain data problems so organizations can navigate web3 safely and with confidence. Its intelligence platform is used by financial institutions to build the future of finance and commerce on the bedrock of blockchain, and by key U.S. governmental agencies to solve some of the most high-profile ransomware investigations. Elementus helps organizations investigate on-chain activities, identify risk, discover valuable market intelligence or a combination of all three. By providing a complete view into flows of funds at the most granular level, Elementus delivers actionable insights and transparency needed to grow and prosper safely in a web3 world. The company is backed by ParaFi Capital, Velvet Sea Ventures, Pomp Investments, Morgan Creek Digital Assets, Avon Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Gemini Frontier Fund, and Blockchain.com. For more information, visit elementus.io.

Media Contact:
SHIFT Communications
[email protected]
[email protected]

SOURCE Elementus

The $23 million Series A led by Alphabet’s CapitalG includes prominent investors Nat Friedman (former CEO of Github and co-creator of Copilot), Elad Gil, and Amplify Partners, bringing the company’s total funding to $28 million.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 6, 2023 — Magic.dev, a new startup that is developing an AI-powered software engineer, announced a $23 million Series A led by Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, with participation from prominent investors Nat Friedman, Elad Gil, and Amplify Partners. This brings the company’s total funding to $28 million.

Magic is developing an “AI colleague” for software engineering. Like a human engineer, it aims to communicate in natural language and collaborate with users on complex code changes. Powered by large language models, the product operates like an AI pair programmer able to understand and continually learn more about the context of the work and the user. 

Magic co-founder and CEO Eric Steinberger said, “Our mission is to deploy AI to accelerate science and make the world more productive. For decades, technology was just a tool; soon it will be a colleague. The adoption of ‘AI assistants’ in the workplace will be as impactful as the industrial revolution, and it’s important to get this transition right.” He added, “I’m excited to be applying our technology to the field of software engineering; it’s highly complex, collaborative, and a bottleneck for many organizations. Due to what remains a tight technical talent market, many organizations are unable to hire the engineers they need. Magic will enable people and organizations to build game-changing technology faster and more easily than has ever been possible before.”

Before founding Magic in 2022, Steinberger founded ClimateScience.org in order to make climate change education accessible to children worldwide, worked as an ML researcher at FAIR, and studied computer science at the University of Cambridge.

“I’ve been evaluating enterprise applications for AI for the past three years,” said CapitalG partner Jill Chase who led the investment and will be joining Magic’s board. “Code generation is an obvious application for AI, given the magnitude of the software development market and the clear ROI associated with productivity gains. It’s a space where the best technology will win because the open ecosystem allows for easy distribution of the best product. Magic is highly differentiated from other code generation start-ups because it’s on a path to go far beyond simple code completion; it’s building a true AI colleague. This has the potential to fundamentally change software development.” 

Elad Gil, serial entrepreneur and investor, said, “Eric and his team have a strong vision for AI’s potential in the field of code generation. I’m excited to back Magic in this exciting space.” 

Mike Dauber, general partner at Amplify Partners, added, “Despite all of the attention given to Generative AI, we were surprised and impressed by how much better Magic was than anything else that we’d seen. Magic has the potential to grow into a truly generational business.”

Over the last few years the high cost of software developer talent (on average about $150K+ per year) and the scarcity of that talent (IDC predicts a shortfall of 4 million engineers by 2025) have fostered interest in developer productivity tooling. IDC estimates there to be 25 million developers worldwide and predicts that number to grow to 40 million by 2027. Magic’s technology will help software developers scale their impact and build better products faster.

About Magic.dev

Magic is a public benefit corporation dedicated to building and safely deploying aligned, superhuman AGI. Seeing AI complete complex tasks feels like magic to us, and we can’t wait to see what developers will build with our product. Learn more at www.Magic.dev.

About CapitalG

CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent growth fund, invests in remarkable companies transforming the fields of enterprise infrastructure, security, and data; fintech; and consumer services and marketplaces. CapitalG partners with growth stage companies in their transition from startup to scale up through hands-on assistance from its in-house growth team and connections to Google’s engineering, product, marketing, sales and people operations experts worldwide. More than 3,000 Googlers and Alphabet leaders have advised more than 4500 portfolio employees at companies including Airbnb, CrowdStrike, Databricks, Duolingo, Lyft, Robinhood, Stripe, UiPath,  and Zscaler, among others. Learn more at www.CapitalG.com.

Media contact: 

Melissa Sobel,
CapitalG Communications Partner,
[email protected]

SOURCE CapitalG

With 8x growth in two years, ShiftMed secures capital to accelerate its mission of revolutionizing access to healthcare workers

MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 6, 2023 — ShiftMed, one of the largest W-2 healthcare workforce management marketplaces, has raised $200 million led by healthcare investors, Panoramic Ventures with participation from Blue Heron Capital and Audacious Capital. Funds will be used to expand ShiftMed’s national footprint across all segments of the healthcare market.

“Healthcare providers continue to struggle with access to credentialed workers as patient needs and volume continues to rise,” said Todd Walrath, CEO of ShiftMed. “ShiftMed is positioned to provide health systems with a regulatory compliant W-2 solution that leverages local and part-time resources.”

Historically, traditional staffing providers have focused on the travel nursing segment due to the high margins where several large players control the market. Travel nursing rates continue to exceed the budgets of national healthcare providers, which is unsustainable. The sector has grown from $8B in 2020 to more than $13B in 2022. Travel nurse providers are bleeding hospital system budgets while demoralizing in-house teams paid at lower rates.

ShiftMed provides access to a local marketplace with more than 350,000 credentialed W-2 healthcare workers and an automated workforce management platform that uniquely enables acute, post-acute, and in-home providers to manage their resources dynamically. By using mobile and cloud-based software that provide workforce optimization, health systems are able to offer the modern, unified solution to their workforce that increases retention, creates part-time work opportunities, and decreases reliance on travel agencies. ShiftMed also provides access to additional local staff, reducing operating costs by 30-40% compared to travel staffing alternatives.

“By diminishing reliance on travel nurses, ensuring a compliant W-2 workforce, and providing tools to increase retention, we see a path for large health systems to change the labor framework to give them control and predictability,” added Walrath

“Healthcare Providers need solutions that streamline workforce management, bring labor costs back into balance and improve patient outcomes with better care. We see ShiftMed’s growth as validation for the market need. The team continues to execute against a multi-billion market opportunity,” said Paul Iaffaldano, General Partner of Panoramic Ventures. 

ShiftMed is the #1 ranked mobile app for professionals searching for flexible nursing jobs, addressing nursing shortages and enabling hospitals to reach their optimal staffing levels. ShiftMed, as seen on the TODAY Show, has more than 350,000 nurses and aides (W-2 employees) using the app in more than 110 markets across the United States.

About ShiftMed

ShiftMed is a next-generation workforce management platform that connects hospitals, assisted living providers and skilled nursing facilities to the highest quantity and quality of licensed nurses (CNAs, LPNs and RNs). As the #1 nursing jobs mobile app on the App Store with over 350,000 nursing professionals, ShiftMed serves more than 1500 enterprise healthcare partners across the country by offering software tools and direct access to labor for shift scheduling. The ShiftMed on-demand platform dramatically streamlines the delivery of care services and enables healthcare providers access to compliant, credentialed workers to fulfill their staffing needs faster than any other solution. For more information, visit http://www.ShiftMed.com.

Media Contact:
Sara Batchelder
AM Public Relations for ShiftMed
[email protected]

SOURCE ShiftMed

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 6, 2023 — Choose Your Horizon Inc. dba Choose Ketamine, a breakthrough mental wellness company, is announcing the completion of its seed financing led by Manifestations Capital, along with Notley Ventures and several industry veterans and thought leaders. Founded in 2021, Choose Ketamine is a virtual, therapeutic ecosystem offering ketamine therapy and aftercare programs that are proving to be highly effective in treating the root causes of mental health issues among treatment-resistant patients.

The financing round has been completed following rapid growth into 12 states across the US. The funding will support Choose Ketamine as it continues to expand its footprint into 50 states and to grow its team of expert clinical providers and trained psychedelic guides.

Choose Ketamine is dedicated to delivering affordable and accessible care to individuals who have been suffering with symptoms of treatment resistant depression, anxiety and PTSD, many of whom have not found relief in traditional mental health offerings.

“This work has been very personally rewarding for our entire team due to the positive outcomes we are seeing in patients and the profound relief that patients are self-reporting, which is what we are continuing to build our mission around,” said Mark Holland, Choose Ketamine co-founder and CEO. “We’re grateful for the support of Manifestations Capital, Notley Ventures, and all of our investors that have supported us to provide personalized treatment plans that drive profound change.”

“We’re excited to partner with these great entrepreneurs and be part of Choose Ketamine’s healing mission to make breakthrough treatments available to a wide audience for mental health,” said Charbel Zreik, Founder and Managing Principal of Manifestations Capital.

The Choose Ketamine executive team and medical advisory team continue to focus on optimizing patient outcomes through the core ketamine therapy protocols. The company will also be introducing complementary therapeutic modalities such as sound and light therapy, group therapy and improvements to our technology platform that already facilitates the entire at-home ketamine therapy experience for patients.

ABOUT CHOOSE KETAMINE

Choose Ketamine is a wellness platform that’s making affordable access to ketamine therapy possible across the U.S. The company is dedicated to developing highly therapeutic customer journeys and patient protocols. In addition to oral ketamine assisted therapy experiences, Choose Ketamine is working with novel sound and light therapies that have the potential to improve the ketamine assisted therapy experience and patient outcomes.

ABOUT MANIFESTATIONS CAPITAL

Manifestations Capital is a leading early-stage venture capital fund investing in distinguished entrepreneurs with innovations that improve health and wellbeing across mind, body, and spirit. Established in 2022 by Charbel Zreik and a team of seasoned operators and investors, the firm provides capital, mentoring, and other resources to support mission driven founders looking to improve lives at scale while providing a top decile return to investors. More information is available at www.manifestationscapital.com.

Contact:
Rob Lee
(410) 886-7398
[email protected]

SOURCE Choose Ketamine

Attendees Include Senior Executives, Venture Capitalists, Entrepreneurs, Investors, and other Prominent Thought Leaders

 H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi, the Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Chairman for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to Speak About The Impact on Qatar of Hosting The World’s Greatest Sporting Event

PHOENIX, Feb. 6, 2023 — invisionAZ, the Arizona-based organization focused on            fueling the state’s technology ecosystem, and AZ-VC, the largest Arizona-centric venture capital firm, are proud to present the 6th Annual Tech Innovation Summit, taking place on February 8th, 2023, in the 17th Hole Skybox at the WM Phoenix Open.

invisionAZ aims to accelerate the growth of Arizona’s vibrant business tech ecosystem by creating, promoting, and developing the necessary frameworks to enable technology, innovation, and investment to flourish in the state.

The invitation-only Summit brings together national innovators, business executives, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, investors, government leaders, and other prominent thought leaders, for a series of panels and fireside chats about the challenges and opportunities happening at the intersection of sports, entertainment, technology and innovation-fueled community growth. 

Among the speakers of note include H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi, the Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Chairman for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, who will share his insights about hosting the world’s largest sporting event (the FIFA World Cup), the process undertaken to make it happen, and how it impacted his home country of Qatar. Additional speakers include Jack Selby, Managing Director of invisionAZ, Managing Partner of AZ-VC, and Managing Director of Thiel Capital; Katie Hobbs, Governor of Arizona; Dr. Bobby Robbins, President University of Arizona; and Joe McLean, founder Intersect Capital.

“Investing in Arizona’s technology ecosystem and partnering with its amazing entrepreneurs is a passion of mine, helping to build market leading companies that transform the state’s economy and create more opportunities for more people,” said Selby. “Bringing together Arizona’s innovation ecosystem with the world’s top minds in building nations and communities through sport and innovation, to a marquee event like WM Phoenix Open, enables Arizona to capture the world’s attention for a moment and begin to reimagine the impact that innovation, entrepreneurship, and sport can have in shaping vibrant communities.”

Sharing similar sentiments, H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi understands what goes into the growth of states and countries, as Qatar recently had their own victories when hosting the FIFA World cup. 

“I’m excited to share everything that went into hosting the FIFA World Cup, and how it positively impacted my home country and the people of Qatar,” said H.E. Hassan Al Thawadi. “I’m thrilled to partner with invisionAZ and AZ-VC to share these insights for the first time publicly and delve into what took to ensure that hosting the world’s greatest sporting event fueled the growth and development of the broader Qatari community. Speaking at the WM Phoenix Open is fitting, because it is where sports play an important role in the growth of the broader Arizona community.”

To learn more about the event, please visit www.aztechsummit.com.

About invisionAZ

invisionAZ will accelerate the growth of Arizona’s vibrant tech ecosystem by creating, promoting, and leading the framework that allows technology, innovation, and investment to flourish. The blueprint of invisionAZ was developed based on the response from leading tech experts at the 2017 AZ Tech Innovation Summit. We assembled a roadmap of real solutions to address the gaps that currently exist in Arizona’s tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.invisionaz.org. 

About AZ-VC

AZ-VC is a $110 million Series A and beyond venture capital fund based in Phoenix and focused on Arizona technology companies. The strategy is sector agnostic, and the fund aims to deploy investments between $2–5m. The fund is managed by Jack Selby, a 20-year Arizona resident and former PayPal executive. Learn more at www.azvc.com.

SOURCE AZ-VC

– US venture firms Quiet Capital and Underscore VC lead funding round 

– Cenoa’s zero-fee digital dollar product aims to serve the billions of people hit by inflation in emerging markets

SINGAPORE, Feb. 6, 2023 — Cenoa, the borderless super wallet improving access to dollar-based products in emerging markets, announces it has raised US$7 million in Seed funding. The fund raise was led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm Quiet Capital – an early backer of Robinhood; and Underscore VC – a Boston-based firm focused on backing the next generation of iconic companies at their earliest stages. Further investors include Human Capital, Ulu Ventures, Acrew Capital, and Collective Spark – who have all invested in successful well-known global neobank and fintech unicorns such as Chime, Coinbase, Brex and SoFi.

Proceeds from the fund raise will be used to grow Cenoa’s operations to expand both beyond its core product and to new markets in Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Cenoa’s product development aims to add US Dollar-based debit cards and instant money transfer within the next 18 months. Funds will also be used to hire talent across different business functions – from product development to engineering – for its fully remote global team.

With inflation soaring globally to a 40-year peak, billions of people in emerging economies are facing currency meltdowns. They are left with few options but to store savings in strong currencies like the US Dollar. In many countries, the existing financial system makes buying USD either very difficult or very expensive while offering almost no yield. Everyday people in emerging markets suffer deteriorating living standards and are neglected in a world of rising prices.

Cenoa introduces a borderless and non-bureaucratic way to access a digital dollar product without any fees and earn an inflation-resistant yield. This compares to less than 1 percent in most traditional banks, which also take hefty fees and often require paperwork for simple currency exchanges. With the US Dollar at its strongest in 20 years, and emerging markets setting the highest USD saving demand, Cenoa’s non-custodial wallet is helping users make their assets devaluation-proof and increase savings growth.  

Seçkin Çağlın, Founder and Co-CEO of Cenoa, said: 

“Cenoa offers easy access to digital dollar-based products, 100 percent designed for the everyday user. We believe in using modern technologies such as blockchain to provide one-click access to the digital dollar ecosystem to benefit the customers that need that access most – those in emerging economies lacking stable currencies like Argentina and Nigeria. People in these countries should be able to easily and affordably access US Dollars and beat inflation while saving, a function the traditional financial system has failed to provide.” 

Emre Ertan, Founder and Co-CEO of Cenoa, added: 

“We are delighted to welcome all our new investors of our US$7 million Seed fund raise, which will provide us with the necessary liquidity to scale our borderless and zero-fee product to hundreds of thousands of new users in 2023. Our successful and diligent beta-testing phase has proven to be viable for large-scale adoption, and we have received an incredible amount of customer interest – the number of users on our early access waitlist exceeds 10,000 and grows every day.”

Created as a truly global solution, Cenoa is currently available across 35 markets. While still in its beta-testing phase with 1,000 private users, the company is already fully integrated with BiLira and Transak, which connect Cenoa with the local banking systems.

Cenoa’s target for the next two years is to onboard millions of customers worldwide and bring seamless local currency to dollar conversion to users. Built on blockchain technology, its non-custodial savings solution cuts out the costs for branches, intermediary fees, and other inefficient procedures of traditional banking.

Michael Bloch, Partner at Quiet Capital, commented:

“Cenoa is on a mission to broaden access to the US financial ecosystem, which will enable billions of people around the world to safely protect & grow their wealth. As early investors in many disruptive fintech companies, we similarly see untapped, significant potential for simple & safe solutions like Cenoa that can unlock new services to the people that need them most.”

Richard Dulude, Partner at Underscore VC, commented: 

“Contrary to what is commonly believed, turbulent economic times make the best start-ups and really contribute to the maturing of frontier technologies. Millions around the world see their hard-earned savings evaporate due to inflation – and are stuck with local banks unwilling to help them. Cenoa solves this head-on by integrating users worldwide into the digital dollar economy. We strongly believe in this mission of financial inclusion, and its financial viability, as it serves the needs of people in emerging markets and fights global inequality.” 

Cenoa’s four person Founder Team consists of Co-CEOs Emre Ertan (former CPO & CTO of rapid delivery decacorn Getir) and Seçkin Çağlın (ex-McKinsey, former Head of Cards & CMO of BBVA Garanti Payments), who developed their idea together at Stanford Business School; and technical Co-Founders Sırrı Perek (Facebook) and Buğra Çakmak (Google).

Based in Singapore, the fintech challenger’s team is fully remote with employees in Turkey, Singapore, the UK, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.

Contact:
Katie Smitten
[email protected]
+34 633 663 699

SOURCE Cenoa