Crypto payments startup Ramp closes $52.7 million raise

Quick Take

  • Ramp has closed a Series A round led by Balderton Capital.
  • The startup has seen monthly transaction volumes grow 30 times over the last 12 months.

Ramp, the payments infrastructure crypto startup, has closed a $52.7 million Series A raise led by Balderton Capital, according to an announcement.

The Block reported in October that the company, which is based in Warsaw and London, was set to raise $30 million at a $300 million valuation led by Balderton, citing people familiar with the matter. But a spokesperson for Ramp said yesterday that a larger sum had been sought from an early stage in negotiations. The company did not disclose a valuation in its announcement.

Existing backers NFX, Galaxy Digital, Seedcamp, Firstminute Capital and angel investors such as Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus and TrueLayer’s Francesco Simoneschi also participated. Balderton general partner Rana Yared has joined Ramp’s board.

Founded in 2017, Ramp offers a non-custodial payment infrastructure that helps exchanges, marketplaces and wallets to offer smoother paths to buying crypto and other digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It styles itself as the ‘PayPal for crypto.’

Yared said in a statement that the Ramp team is “providing a reliable way in for new audiences by making buying digital assets as straightforward as buying US dollars when making a purchase from your favourite American brand in Euros.”

The Series A close comes barely six months after Ramp’s $9 million seed raise in June. The company said it has seen monthly transaction volumes grow by a factor of 30 times in the past 12 months, while tripling the size of its team.

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Partnering up

The latest influx of cash will be used to continue hiring and to drive new partnership deals.

Szymon Sypniewicz, Ramp’s co-founder and CEO, said the company is targeting partnerships in three key areas: mass-market consumer tech firms like Mozilla and Opera; NFT and gaming platforms like Sorare and Axie Infinity; and crypto platforms.

“More broadly, the market opportunity for us is really with the advent of web3 — and we’re looking at partnerships, products and collaborations that will play a role in the mainstream adoption of decentralized applications,” he added.

The company is already partnered with more than 400 developers including well-known names like Mozilla, Dapper Labs, Aave and Sorare. It was added to the Financial Conduct Authority’s anti-money laundering register in July, and more recently has been handed approval from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to offer services in the United States.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Ryan Weeks is deals editor at the The Block, focused on fundraising, M&A and institutional trends in the crypto space, among other things. He is particularly interested in investigative work — so please send tips! Ryan previously worked at Financial News, Dow Jones as a fintech correspondent in London. Prior to that, he wrote for several different publications, including Sifted, AltFi and Wired. Beyond journalism, Ryan is a keen reader and writer. He enjoys all things active, especially running, rugby, climbing and tennis.