Sorted Wallet, a lightweight stablecoin wallet designed for feature phones and low-end smartphones, announced a $4.4 million seed funding round led by Tether and Gnosis, with participation from Movement, Angel Invest, and angels including the founders of RWA.io.
Founded to address the lack of financial infrastructure available to feature phone users across emerging markets, Sorted Wallet said it has surpassed 500,000 downloads across 160 countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. The company said its wallet operates on both feature phones and smartphones, requires less than 10MB of storage, and is designed around a self-custody model.
The company explained that its platform was created after recognizing that hundreds of millions of people across Africa and South Asia rely on low-cost feature phones as their primary connection to the internet and financial services. Sorted said many existing crypto and fintech products were built for users with stable banking systems, reliable internet access, and smartphones, rather than underserved populations in emerging economies.
According to the company, users leverage the wallet for remittances, stablecoin savings, and cross-border payments in markets where local currencies can be volatile and traditional banking systems remain limited or inefficient.
Sorted said the new funding will support expansion across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, including deeper telecom and mobile operator integrations, additional market expansion, and new product features tailored to how users in those regions move and store money.
KEY QUOTES:
“Over the years, digital asset use cases have evolved from trading tools to real-life applications, promoting financial freedom and inclusion. However, to achieve true inclusion, we must reach hundreds of millions of people who cannot afford smartphones or data plans. That’s why we have reinvested in Sorted Wallet, ensuring that everyone, regardless of device, economic status, or location, can participate freely in the global economy using the systems and devices they are most familiar with.”
Paolo Ardoino, CEO, Tether
“Gnosis views Sorted as a key distribution layer for bringing stablecoin-based payments into real-world use, extending accessible financial infrastructure to users beyond the reach of traditional fintech.”
Daniele Pinna, Investment Partner, Gnosis
“Movement backed Sorted because they are doing what most of the industry talks about and few actually do. They are building infrastructure for the people who need it most, not the people who are easiest to reach. This is exactly the kind of real-world financial utility Movement is built to support, and we think the next chapter for Sorted is going to be significant.”
Torab Torabi, CEO, Movement
“Sorted is built for the users most financial products still fail to reach. By making stablecoin payments and remittances work on low-cost phones, the team is addressing one of the biggest gaps in financial access.”
Marco Muccini, Venture Partner, Angel Invest
“Three years ago we built a wallet for a $20 phone. Nobody else thought it was worth building for. 500,000 downloads later, we know better. This round is how we find the next 100 million.”
Stephen Browne, CEO, Sorted
