On 26th September, an official post published by Veem stated that banking mogul Goldman Sachs along with GV [formerly Google Ventures] were some of the major investors who funded the Bitcoin [BTC] payment startup Veem. The global payment platform was founded by Marwan Forzely who had left Western Union in 2014 to start Align Commerce which is currently known as Veem.
Reportedly, Veem had successfully raised $25 million through a strategic funding round led by Goldman Sachs. Furthermore, this has been the most prominent funding the company got from May 2015. In addition, Rana Yared, the Managing Director of Goldman Sachs will be acting as a board observer for Veem.
The main aim of Veem was to ensure small business owners were not exploited by paying high fees for international payments. Small businesses which were using Swift technology often had to pay heavy fees and the technology lacked transparency and security. Veem, on the other hand, offered multi-rail payments to ensure security and low processing fees. The report stated that Veem would use Bitcoin to connect its clients with buyers and sellers.
According to the report, Veem had 590 customers in the series A round of funding. The series B round of funding gave Veem 18000 customers. It also stated that Veem’s customer base had spread over 96 countries with 80,000 business subscribers. Marwan Forzley stated:
“We’re thrilled to have Goldman Sachs lead our investment round. This funding will help us expand our footprint, increase our distribution and form new strategic partnerships”
Goldman Sachs’s investment Group has been focusing on blockchain companies which can potentially improve service for the bank’s clients. The report stated that The Principal Strategic Investment Group had also invested in Circle, a payments startup and Axoni, an infrastructure provider.
The general partner of GV, Karim Faris stated that they were not investing in Veem for a strategic purpose but they saw an opportunity to create a unique business through which they would either make a good profit while selling or eventually start an IPO.
Veem’s main agenda was to support a global network of small businesses which could be connected through seamless payments. Frozley stated:
“Whatever you do in life, at the end of the day there’s a payment…Payment technology is at the core of what people do and their livelihood”
The post Goldman Sachs and Google Ventures invest in Bitcoin payment startup appeared first on AMBCrypto.
Source: AMBcrypto
Original Post: Goldman Sachs and Google Ventures invest in Bitcoin payment startup
