The startup announced on Wednesday that it raised $7 million dollars in a funding round led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from F-Prime, Yolo Investments, and Scytale Digital, which brings their total capital raised to $15 million. Bengani, the founder and CEO of Meld, did not disclose his company’s valuation in an interview with Fortune.
“It’s very fragmented—there are so many blockchains, there are so many stablecoins, there are so many payment methods,” Bengani said. “It’s ripe for one company to make it easier, and that’s what we want to do.”
The startup generates revenue through transaction fees, although it did not disclose exact numbers. Meld said that it expects to at least quadruple its revenue from last year. It currently has about 15 employees.
Prior to founding Meld, Bengani worked at Square (as Block was then known) for about five years. There, he felt aligned with the company’s mission of financial inclusion, which he says it accomplished by helping small businesses. He takes those same values to Meld, where he believes he’s promoting financial inclusion by providing people access to crypto at a global scale.
“It’s fun to make money and feel like you’re making the world a better place, as corny as that sounds,” he said. “If you can give financial access to people on these new rails, that’s pretty cool.”
