C14 launches fiat-to-crypto onramp with $2.5M in funding
Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios
C14, a New York-based web3 payments firm, is coming to market having raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst.
Why it matters: With Wyre winding down, there's an opportunity for alternative crypto on-ramps — particularly in emerging markets.
How it works: C14 built a platform for embedding purchases of digital assets onto websites and decentralized applications (dApps), focusing on international and localized payment options in emerging markets.
- As a result, the firm hopes to go beyond just debit and credit card processing in places like the U.S., Canada, and the European Union.
- It currently supports PIX transactions in Brazil and plans to roll out localized payment options in other regions throughout 2023.
Between the lines: Founder and CEO Erich Grant was at Wyre from April 2021 to February 2022. While at Wyre, Grant saw some of the problems crypto ramp companies encounter.
- "It's still very hard for most people in most places to get access to most assets," Grant tells Axios.
- "Most people in the world don't have credit cards or debit cards. So if you say you can on-ramp a user from Mexico or South Africa through card networks, that's technically true but very few people can actually use it," he added.
The latest: On the partner side, C14 launched with EVMOS and has since added support for Ethereum and Aurora, among other assets.
- It is also working to get embedded through crypto ecosystems like Hedera, Aleph Zero and LGCY Network.
Of note: So far, C14 has registered with FinCEN in the U.S., FinTRAC in Canada and has obtained a virtual asset service provider designation in Lithuania.
- Other investors in the round include Fin Capital, Cipholio and Istari Ventures, among others.
