Onramper, the fiat-to-crypto gateway aggregator, empowering hundreds of crypto-enabled applications with a single, easy-to-use fiat onramp — today announces that it has raised $6m in seed funding, led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Backed VC and TRGC. Providing a hub for fiat gateways and app developers that’s fast and easy to set up, Onramper supports all currencies and payment methods in the fiat gateways aggregated within the platform. The new capital will be used to accelerate the product roadmap and quadruple headcount over the next six months – further bridging the worlds of fiat and crypto.
To access cryptocurrency and related Web 3.0 services — including NFT art, gaming, and decentralised finance — millions of users previously relied on centralised exchanges, such as Coinbase or Binance. Crypto-based protocols, services and apps currently have a dysfunctional onboarding process, requiring users to leave an app to go to a centralised exchange, go through their KYC, deposit fiat, buy crypto, subsequently download a wallet and withdraw the crypto to the wallet, and then connect that wallet to relevant app. To tackle these challenges, fiat gateway companies emerged to provide fiat-to-crypto onramping infrastructure for any crypto-platform. Fiat gateways also help banish technological and compliance difficulties for developers, who are often constrained by legal and regulatory issues across different geographies.
While this effort has succeeded in making the onboarding process a bit easier, many challenges remain. Many fiat gateways are emerging, but bad geographical coverage, high KYC friction, high fees and low authorisation rates plague the industry. A significant portion of transactions still fail, which is where the need for better infrastructure and orchestration becomes most apparent – enter Onramper. Uniquely, as an aggregator, Onramper provides access to all fiat gateways in one widget, which is free to use and fast to integrate. In turn, Web 3.0 companies can build their own flow through Onramper’s robust yet simple API, reducing many months of work to mere hours. Meanwhile, Onramper’s partner fiat gateways benefit from additional transaction volumes, less integration effort, and access to new markets. Through Onramper’s infrastructure, businesses and users are able to get instant access to more than 150 cryptocurrencies across 180+ countries and 20+ payment methods, an unrivaled reach in this growing space. This approach leads to superior conversion rates, better coverage, and lower fees – a winning combination for all.
Founded in June 2020 by Thijs Maas (CEO), Salah Abdelbaki (CTO), and Maurits Dewina (COO) — participants and builders in the crypto ecosystem — the Onramper team has experienced the limitations of fiat gateways first-hand. During their time building cross-chain interoperability and embedded wallet systems for some of the largest players in the industry, the team got frustrated with the lack of a truly global low-friction onramping solution capable of supporting any user, irrespective of country, currency or payment method. In a world as globalised as crypto, developers should be able to onboard users irrespective of their geographical location. Onramper directly addresses these challenges through its API or widget interface; users can buy crypto without leaving a company’s app or website and businesses can monetise every transaction. Already, the company is achieving 100% Compound Monthly Growth Rate (CMGR), with over 400 fully onboarded clients and a new B2B2C solution that is live.
Commenting on the news, Thijs Maas, CEO at Onramper, said: “To unlock all the benefits of cryptocurrency and Web 3.0 and empower people with access to the future of finance globally, we need to evolve beyond the common binary view that pits fiat vs. crypto. Instead, it’s time for a new paradigm that sees the two as core components of a single financial world. To accomplish this, we must create new infrastructure that inherently links both worlds seamlessly. This core to Onramper’s mission to help build and access the decentralised world, making the transition to a truly open financial future as frictionless as possible. But onramping is about more than just making fiat-to-crypto infrastructure. It’s about onboarding any user onto Web 3.0, eventually, without them even noticing.”
He continued: “The EQT Ventures team inspired us from day one with their entrepreneurial mindset and crypto expertise; today, it is a privilege to announce this new funding milestone, which cements our shared vision — accelerating Onramper’s global growth ambitions.”
Tom Mendoza, Deal Partner at EQT Ventures, added: “We are deeply convinced that the next millions of users coming into the crypto ecosystem will come from applications and games that are yet to be built. To successfully onboard these users into the ecosystem, it will be crucial to have robust and scalable fiat-to-crypto infrastructure. Crypto-based platforms need fiat-to-crypto conversion to onboard users — but most platforms can’t sell crypto themselves. When meeting with the Onramper team, we instantly aligned with their ambition to provide a service synonymous with rapid implementation, ease of use, and cost efficiency. I can’t wait for the next chapter.”
About Onramper
Founded in 2020, Onramper is focused on bridging the world of fiat currency with the world of crypto by providing a fiat-to-crypto gateway aggregator. Onramper offers a central point of access to all major gateways in a single solution. Whether through using their API or their widget, Onramper offers customers the ability to rapidly integrate fiat-to-crypto payments into their applications, getting instant global access to more than 150 cryptocurrencies and 50 fiat currencies.
For further information, please visit: https://onramper.com/
About EQT Ventures
EQT Ventures is a multi-stage VC fund that partners with the most ambitious and boldest founders in Europe and the US. The fund is based in Luxembourg and has investment advisors stationed in Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Berlin and Paris. Fuelled by some of Europe’s most experienced company builders and scalers, EQT Ventures helps the next generation of entrepreneurs with the capital and hands-on support needed to build global winners.
For further information please visit https://eqtventures.com