Blockchain cross-border payment company Wyre received $5.8 million in Series A funding, with several Chinese companies participating in the cooperation

San Francisco-based bitcoin startup Wyre has raised $5.8 million in Series A funding.

With the announcement, the company is officially open to the public. It is reported that the lead investor in this round of financing is Chinese venture capital firm Amphora Capital, followed by Chinese payment companies Baofoo.com and 9fBank, Draper Associates (Tim Draper's personal fund) and Digital Currency Group (DCG). Wyre said that the company has received a total of US$7.5 million in financing so far.

Wyre’s main business focus is reportedly in the cross-border payment sector, especially between China and the United States. Wyre uses Bitcoin (and other blockchains such as Ethereum, Litecoin, etc.) to settle transactions as a medium of exchange between companies in the two countries. Among these partner companies is NihaoPay, a Chinese e-commerce payment company (which also integrates WeChat Pay and Alipay).

According to Michael Dunworth, founder and CEO of Wyre, today the company has opened its services to potential users in the US and China. He also explained that part of the new financing will also be used to support the development of services in Europe and Latin America.

Wyre is not alone in its exploration of blockchain remittances. Bitcoin startups around the world have been pursuing the same concept, but the process is fraught with many challenges. Large financial companies are also using this technology to test cross-border payments.

According to Dunworth, Wyre hopes to simplify the process of sending money, allowing businesses to use bitcoin for cross-border payments without actually having to hold the digital currency.

Dunworth told reporters:

“We take away all the headaches of learning blockchain. Hey, you want to send money? Just use our API, it’s completely based on blockchain technology, not through banks. It’s all done on public chains, and most of it is done through Bitcoin at the moment.”

Looking ahead

It is reported that the launch of this product took Wyre nearly 10 months of testing, and currently Chinese companies are using the startup's fund transfer service. In addition, Wyre said it is currently testing another version of the application with several companies in Brazil and expects to expand its business to the region in the near future.

Some of the companies that have partnered with Wyre said the concept of blockchain cross-border remittances holds promise, prompting companies such as 9fBank to participate in this round of financing.

“We believe Wyre’s cross-border payments technology will revolutionize the global payments and remittances landscape, and the company has secured a sizeable round of funding,” 9fbank’s chief financial officer said in a statement.

Dunworth said Wyre will next expand its engineering and business development teams.

"A significant amount of the money will be used to expand our engineering team. We currently have a team of 10 people and we want to expand to 30," he said.

Dunworth told CoinDesk:

“We want to be very focused, and when we do that, we want to make sure that the compliance and technical processes are very solid.”