Galoy Raises $3 Million To Help Make Using Bitcoin As Money Easier

By Dan Anderson • Jan 1, 2022
  • Galoy, a company that makes it simple for any community or institution to offer financial services on Bitcoin, announced recently that it raised $3 million. These are the details.

Galoy is a company that makes it simple for any community or institution to offer financial services on Bitcoin. And the Galoy open-source Bitcoin banking platform includes a secure backend API, mobile wallets, point of sale apps, compliance tools, and administrative controls. Plus Galoy’s proof of concept Bitcoin Beach Wallet supported the creation of a circular Bitcoin economy that inspired nation-state adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador.

The company recently announced it closed a $3 million seed round of funding. Craft Ventures was joined by Kingsway Capital, Trammel Venture Partners and Balaji Srinivasan. Participants in the seed round also include Fulgur Ventures, Bitcoiner Ventures, and renowned angels Vijay Boyapati and Brad Mills.

The platform is built for a wide variety of clients. Examples include:

— Communities: towns, religious organizations, charities – enabling the creation of circular Bitcoin economies, both locally and globally

— Governments: cities, countries, agencies – providing 21st century financial services directly to their constituents

— Companies: banks, merchants, consumer product businesses – offering novel Bitcoin experiences to their retail customers

The Galoy tech stack includes comprehensive features for launching a Bitcoin Bank – which is a secure backend API, mobile wallets, point of sale apps, compliance tools and administrative controls. And Galoy also offers hosted “Banking-as-a-Service” (BaaS) solutions for those seeking fully-managed implementations and support. The complete codebase is open source and available for all to view, audit, and utilize on GitHub.

KEY QUOTES:

“The Bitcoin Protocol provides an open and Internet-native alternative to the closed and permissioned traditional financial system. We created Galoy to help any community or institution adopt this novel standard, and connect to the world’s foremost monetary network.”

— Co-Founder and CEO Nicolas Burtey

“Twenty years ago, it was costly and cumbersome to start a software company. Today it is easy, fast and inexpensive to do such – thanks to the widespread adoption of cloud computing offerings.

“Galoy is driven to similarly transform the world of financial services. In the years ahead, our clients will be able to launch full-service Bitcoin banking solutions with little more than the push of a button.”

“We believe Bitcoin represents one of the most important technologies ever invented by humanity. The Galoy team is humbled to be at the forefront of its adoption, and excited to help bring Bitcoin to the first billion people.”

— Co-Founder and President Chris Hunter

“We are witnessing Lightning accelerate the evolution of Bitcoin from a speculative asset to a conventional payment rail. Galoy is building a platform that will make it simple for everyone around the world to use Bitcoin as money.”

— Lead seed round investor Brian Murray, COO and Partner at Craft Ventures

“Galoy is inventing Bitcoin tools at the intersection of SaaS and frontier markets. The team has already delivered a successful proof of concept in El Salvador. This can serve as a model for leaders in emerging markets to replicate.”

— Manuel Stotz, Founder of Kingsway Capital