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Lightning Startup Zap Raised $3.5M for Bitcoin App Ahead of Visa Deal
The Lightning startup Zap Inc. just raised its first round to build out both mobile bitcoin wallet services and a Visa partnership in 2020.
By Leigh Cuen
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:10 a.m. Published Jul 16, 2020, 8:26 p.m.
Lightning startup Zap Inc., maker of both the namesake, non-custodial bitcoin wallet and the payments app Strike, raised its first round in April, led by Green Oaks Capital and including veteran bitcoin investor Anthony Pompliano.
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The funding was first reported by Forbes on Wednesday.
- Founder Jack Mallers’ previously bootstrapped startup is now the latest jewel in the Green Oaks Capital crown, as the firm previously invested in fintech unicorns Robinhood and Stripe.
- Zap Inc., founded in 2017, is run by a staff of 13 people spread out from Chicago to Barcelona to Berlin.
- The team plans to issue a Visa card in 2020, making it one of the smallest startups to offer exchange services with mainstream liquidity in dollars.
- Zap Inc. investor Colleen Sullivan of CMT Digital said, "We believe that Zap/Strike will bring the use of the Bitcoin protocol and the Lightning Network to the masses, resulting in a much more efficient and cost-effective way for users to send and receive money while abstracting away the complexities of the underlying technology." CMT Digital is also invested in Lightning Labs.
Read more: Bitcoin Startup Zap Is Working With Visa
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