Merge, a Web3.0 payments infrastructure service provider, founded by a former PayPal and Barclays executive, has raised $9.5 million in seed funding. According to an official announcement, the seed round was led by Octopus Ventures and included Hashed, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, and Ethereal Ventures. Additionally, angel investors from some of the biggest names in the space also participated including the founder of Aave, Stani Kulechov, co-founder of Polygon, CEO of Ledger, and former CEO of Barclays Consumer Banking, amongst others. “Merge’s vision is to build the infrastructure necessary to allow crypto businesses to operate without fear of shutdown by regulators or third-party risk teams. We’re excited to back them as they build that and, ultimately, unleash even more innovation in crypto and defi,” Zihao Xu, investor at Octopus Ventures, said in the announcement release. Merge said it will use the fresh funds to continue developing its platform, which uses an API to “bridge the gap” between fiat and cryptocurrency ecosystems and provides services such as banking, payments, risk management and compliance to web3 companies. The extra funds will go towards expanding their team which currently includes just 12 members. Merge was founded by Kebbie Sebastian, a former PayPal Holdings Inc and Barclays PLC executive, alongside Luno and Coinbase Global Inc alumni.The post Crypto Payments Startup Merge Raises $9.5M in See...
