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AirTM, a financial services startup, has raised $7 million in Series A funding round led by BlueYard Capital – a VC firm that has also been the lead investor of some of the most successful blockchain projects including Protocol Labs/IPFS, Decred, Filecoin, and OB1.
Founded in 2015, AirTM operates a unique blockchain-and-bank-connected e-wallet and p2p exchange platform (the AirPlatform) that provides globally-connected financial services to consumers and businesses in emerging markets. The latest funding round follows a $2 million seed round completed last November.
TechCrunch explains that AirTM simplifies the conversion of any form of money into any other form of money. This means that money deposited using banks, gift cards, cash through Western Union and other similar services, and cryptocurrencies, among others, can also be withdrawn through any of these protocols.
When users create an AirTM account, they get an e-wallet in “AirUSD” – its native token, which will allow them to deposit and withdraw money as well as send and receive money.
“Launching initially in Latin America, AirTM empowers people to regain financial liberty through a e-wallet based p2p network that allows for the exchange of financial assets without a bank account,” BlueYard Capital said. “We’re excited to be backing Ruben, Jorge, Tim and the entire AirTM team on their mission.”
AirTM said it plans to use the funding to support its aggressive growth plans as it expands its product offering to millions of people who are still struggling with “restrictive, unreliable, and costly local financial industries run by archaic banking and government institutions.”
“BlueYard shares our mission to bring reliable and innovative financial services to billions of people in the developing world,” commented Ruben Galindo, AirTM’s Co-Founder and CEO. “BlueYard also understands the potential of decentralizing our peer-to-peer exchange platform via the AirProtocol in order to create thousands of additional bridges to our financial services throughout Latin America and in other emerging markets.”
In its official release, AirTM said it has experienced explosive growth in Venezuela with over 300,000 consumers and businesses in Venezuela and surrounding countries using its platform to preserve wealth by saving in USD, and to access remittance, payments, and donations at free market rates.
