Octopus Ventures Leads $9.5m in Seed Round for Web3 Fintech Firm Merge

Merge, a next-generation fintech startup that provides crypto and web3 companies with a range of banking and payments solutions has raised $9.5 million from venture capital firms led by Octopus Ventures. 

While the valuation of the company remains unknown, Merge noted that the funding round also enjoined participation from Hashed, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research and Ethereal Ventures, alongside angel investors, which included some of the biggest names in both crypto and traditional finance; the founder of Aave, co-founder of Polygon, CEO of Ledger, and former CEO of Barclays Consumer Banking, amongst other prominent investors.

The Web3.0 ecosystem is projected to be worth a $1 trillion market, but limitations still exist in bridging the gap between traditional companies with their blockchain counterparts. Merge provides a solution through its API infrastructure that enables firms to create bank accounts, complete transactions, and adhere to compliance effectively.

“As the crypto economy moves further into the mainstream, it’s increasingly clear that the current financial infrastructure isn’t fit to serve the rapid expansion of crypto-native businesses and many providers aren’t specialised enough to gauge risk,” said Zihao Xu, an investor at Octopus Ventures, adding that:

“Merge’s vision is to build the infrastructure necessary to allow crypto businesses to operate without fear of shutdown by regulators or third-party risk teams. We’re excited to back them as they build that and, ultimately, unleash even more innovation in crypto and defi.”

Investors and companies are particularly interested in startups that offer a very robust infrastructure that can help sustain the mass adoption of Web3.0 startups. While Merge is one of the many in this space, the deep expertise of its founders, led by former Paypal and Barclay’s engineer, Kebbie Sebastian, comes off as one of the many advantages Merge stands to benefit from in meeting the promises to both customers as investors alike.

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