Velocity adds $10M from Visa, Circle, and Ripple, hitting $200M valuation
What's the deal? Velocity, a London-based stablecoin payments startup, raised $10 million in a Series A extension backed by Visa, CircleDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Ripple. The round values the firm at $200 million post-money and brings its total Series A to $48 million, following a $38 million round in July.
Who else joined? Haun VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Translink CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Mirana VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → also participated. Chief executive officer Eric Queathem said the original round was oversubscribed.
What's the endgame? Velocity is building the infrastructure behind stablecoin transactions. Its platform lets payment companies and banks use stablecoins for settlement, liquidity, and treasury operations without replacing existing systems.
Queathem previously worked at Worldpay, which settles more than $2 trillion in annual payments volume. He argues consumer-facing payments have improved while the back end lags. "All this capital has flowed into payments over the last 15 years, and it's been 100% focused on how do you create a better experience on the front end for consumers," he said. "But no one has fixed the back-end layer."
Why now? Stablecoins have grown beyond $300 billion in circulation, moving from crypto trading into payments, cross-border transfers, and corporate treasuries.
Why Visa matters: Velocity does not see stablecoins replacing cards but sitting underneath existing payment experiences, handling funding and settlement behind the scenes. "Stablecoins are playing an increasingly important role in reshaping how value moves across the Visa ecosystem," said Rubail Birwadker, Visa's global head of growth products and strategic partnerships.
Chief growth officer Matt Larson expects the shift to stay invisible to consumers. "It probably doesn't lead to all of us switching to have stablecoin wallets as users," he said. Instead, "all of the funding, all of the settlement" around card networks could move toward stablecoins.
The signal: Backing from Visa, Circle, and Ripple — three of the biggest names bridging traditional finance and crypto — signals that stablecoins are moving from speculative asset to payments plumbing. Queathem expects global companies to eventually keep some capital onchain, creating demand for the reconciliation and treasury tools Velocity is building.
Read more: cryptonews.net
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
