By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 24th, 2024
Cryptocurrency startup Veem just completed a new funding round that includes investors such as Goldman Sachs and Google Ventures. This is not surprising, given the exponential growth of the company, as it seeks to disrupt the global payments sector.
The blockchain-based business payments startup Veem has just raised funding with some high-profile investors, including both Goldman Sachs and GV, formerly known as Google Ventures. Other investors included Silicon Valley Bank, Extol Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Pantera Capital, and more.
Institutional Money Interested
This follows the recent trend of institutional money slowly creeping into the cryptocurrency industry and changing sentiment about the validity of the sector as a whole. This includes both Goldman Sachs and Google, as well. For example, Goldman Sachs-backed Circle recently launched a stablecoin that hopes to provide stability and liquidity to the market, and directly compete with Tether. In addition, Google recently reversed its cryptocurrency ad ban, announcing that it would allow advertising in both U.S. and Japan.
Veem seeks to disrupt the global payments industry, which is one of the ways that many various startups and ventures plan to use blockchain technology to improve the way that individuals and businesses across the globe process transactions. The high-profile interest in the startup is not too surprising, considering the way that the startup has grown recently.
Investors Love Veem
Specifically, in early 2017, the company completed a $24 million funding round when it was closing in on 20,000 customers. Growth has been exponential, as Veem has managed to grow to a customer base of over four times that, at 80,000, in just eighteen months, which is astonishing by any metric. The customers are also not limited to one particular region – but represent over 90 different countries.
The investors have loved the appeal of the startup, and noted how effective the customer conversion has been after users receive Veem payments, and decide to become Veem users. For context, the company has grown from a mere 590 users to over 80,000 users in a little over 3 years.
The company has rebranded from originally being called Align Commerce and has managed to gain real traction in the market since. The CEO spoke about how he realized that he was happy that the new company name could be used as a verb, as customers could refer to sending payments as “Veeming” each other.
Veem argues that the reason that it has been able to gain market share in so much little time is because the traditional wire transfer system does not work for global business in modern times and is outdated and inefficient.
Of course, time will tell whether Veem will be able to be an industry leader when it comes to the global payment sector, but given their high-profile investors – they are certainly in a position to continue their exponential growth.