Align Commerce, a US-based bitcoin startup, announced that it has raised $24 million in a Series B funding round and rebranded the company to ‘Veem’.
The funding round intends to simplify global payments for small businesses and was led by National Australia Bank (NAB) Ventures and included GV (formerly Google Ventures) and SBI Investment Co., Ltd. The investment also saw existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and Silicon Valley Bank.
The company also announced the addition of Melissa Widner, general partner, NAB Ventures, who will be joining the Veem's board. Rebranding from Align Commerce to Veem has shown the company's commitment to modernizing the way small businesses send and receive payments, the release said.
"Many companies exist in a crowded international payments market today, but none have been able to distil the complexities of the space into an easy solution," Melissa Widner, said. "Veem goes beyond the domain of foreign exchange-focused organizations and remittance companies by approaching global payments from a non-traditional point of view. This unique perspective has allowed for Veem's growth and rapid expansion into global markets, and we expect their team and technology to continue to challenge the global payments status quo."
The recent investment round will help Veem to expand into more countries, enable payments in additional currencies, and continue to transform the global payment process for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Also, Veem’s platform unifies the disparate parts of the global payments industry.
“Paying international suppliers/partners is complicated, particularly for small & midsize businesses,” said Karim Faris, general partner, GV. “Veem is in a great position to simplify global payments. The team has deep experience in this space and has taken a smart technical approach to the problem. They've successfully reduced the process required to reliably move money around the world to a few steps.”
