Request Finance, a crypto payments startup, has raised funding worth $5.5 million in a seed round led by venture capital firm Balderton Capital and gaming firm Animoca Brands. VCs and angel investors, including Aave founder Stani Kulechov and Sebastian Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox, showed interest in the venture, which streamlines and automates invoicing costs and payroll for both centralized and decentralized businesses. Request Finance envisions itself as a “web3 Bill.com” — a crypto-native invoicing solution with on-chain payment confirmations and market-rate coin exchange rates, according to Founder and CEO Christophe Lassuyt. New Funding Will Help Improve its in-App Features Request Finance expects the new funding to help it improve its in-app features and expand its team to capture a larger portion of the booming crypto payments market. According to a blockchain data platform Chainalysis, the global volume of cryptocurrency transactions increased by 567 percent from 2020 to reach $15.8 trillion in 2021. Animoca Brands‘ executive chairman and co-founder, Yat Siu, said, “The services provided by Request Finance allow Web3 projects – including some Animoca Brands companies – to save time and effort on crypto payments. We believe the company has a significant potential for growth and expansion.” Simplifying Crypto Payments for Businesses Since its inception in January 2021, the app has processed $203 million in bitcoin ...