While most blockchain startups are having trouble raising funds, one blockchain-based payments platform in California has just closed its second round.
Forbes reports that Paystand, the Scotts Valley-based startup, has just finished a $20 million Series B round.
The round brought in new investors such as DNX Ventures and Battery Ventures and brings Paystand’s total funding to $28.3 million. The seven-year-old company saw business surge 60% in the past 12 months, with over 160,000 businesses transacting across its platform.
“To remain competitive, businesses need to adopt digital infrastructure,” said Leap Global Partners managing director Roman Leal – one of Paystand’s existing investors that participated in the round.
“Just as cloud brought efficiency to many areas of the enterprise, Paystand’s technology helps automate today’s highly manual processes and unlocks the enterprise cash cycle. It’s the infrastructure for how money will move in the next 100 years,” he added.
Paystand’s recent coup is a bright spot in what has been a gloomy time for blockchain startups. With all the buzz around blockchain fizzing out, investors have been avoiding the space writ large.
Despite the promises blockchain technology brings, investors stayed away from the market. According to CB Insights equity funding for blockchain startups plummeted more than 30% last year. In the fourth quarter alone blockchain startups raised 36% less than a year earlier. There were pockets of strength. Ripple, the enterprise payments network raised $200 million, giving it a valuation of $10 billion. Figure Technologies raised $103 million to expand its blockchain platform for home equity loans while PeerNova, the blockchain startup that helps financial firms manage data workflows, raised $31 million. CB Insights found most of the funding was geared toward blockchain startups helping enterprises streamline business processes.
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