Ramp Raises $70M to Provide Crypto Payments Infrastructure

Ramp, a UK-based startup offering payment infrastructure to connect crypto and traditional finance, has raised $70 million in a Series B round co-led by Mubadala Capital, an arm of one of United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth funds, and Korelya Capital.

The startup offers a full-stack payment solution that lets users buy cryptocurrencies inside any application or website, essentially the Web3 answer to services like PayPal or Stripe. Clients include GameStop, crypto-based fantasy sports company Sorare, play-to-earn game Axie Infinity and Ledger, maker of hardware crypto wallets.

Ramp plans to use the capital to hire for a number of senior roles and currently has around 70 open positions to grow the current global headcount of about 200, co-founder and CEO Szymon Sypniewicz told CoinDesk in an email. The funding will also go toward adding local fiat currencies and payment methods as part of the continued global expansion.

“Local payment methods reduce friction and costs for lower-income regions, while being more intuitive and accessible for more people in the world,” explained Sypniewicz. “This is particularly true in LatAm and Asia, both regions that have seen explosive crypto adoption, and that we consider our next strategic targets.”

As part of the investment, Mubadala Capital’s Frederic Lardieg has joined Ramp’s as a director and Korelya Capital Partner Paul Degueuse joined as an observer. Other investors in the round, which brought total funding to over $120 million over the past year, included Balderton Capital and Cogito Capital.

London-based Ramp was founded in 2018 by Sypniewicz and CPO Przemek Kowalczyk. Ramp said payment volumes have increased 240% year-over-year, and the number of unique users coming from integration partners grew by more than 600%.

Read more: UAE Wealth Fund Mubadala Investing in Crypto Ecosystem: CEO