Crypto Startup Raises $5M To Replace Costly, Slow International Wire Transfers
Shield, a crypto neo-bank, has raised a $5 million seed round led by Giant Ventures to help businesses send and receive money across borders more quickly and affordably.
CEO Emmanuel Udotong told TechCrunch that he and his team launched Shield as mainstream uses for crypto were scarce, while “bad actors” were dominating the space. Shield’s goal, he said, is to bring blockchain into the real economy by solving real-world problems.
How Shield Works
Shield was founded in 2022 by Udotong, his brother Isaiah, and their college friend Luis Carchi. The idea came from their own frustrations: when they tried to run a trade business, international wire transfers were slow, expensive, and often unreliable.
“Today, trade businesses in regions like Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia often wait days or weeks for international wires, pay high fees, and in many cases, can’t access US dollars at all,” Udotong says when speaking to TechCrunch.
Shield’s platform enables exporters and importers to send and receive digital dollars (known as stablecoins) across borders almost instantly. To keep these transactions secure, it also performs compliance checks for fraud, sanctions, and money laundering.
Udotong says that he hopes Shield will enable international businesses to expand their reach — and profit — by increasing access to customers in various markets. The company is registered as a money service business in the US and registered as a crypto exchange in the EU.
$5 million seed round
Shield was introduced to its lead investors, Giant Ventures, through a fellow founder. Chris Dixon’s a16z, alongside Factor Capital’s crypto startup accelerator, and strategic angel investors including Coinbase and Bank of America, also participated in the seed round. The company has currently raised $7 million to date, it said.
The new capital will be used to secure additional banking partnerships, as the company already has two main banking partners, although it declined to disclose their exact names. It will also continue to build out its compliance product.
Image: Shield
